Technically, Still Human
by SMorris105
Summary: After a bout of late night television, Ruby decides she wants a "robotic assistant". Little did she know that this simple desire would be a part of a much grander scheme to bridge the gap to an unknown, yet familiar, world. "How did a soul get into it anyway?"
1. Chapter 1

Ruby Rose. If you were to ask some of the many students, teachers, and staff members at the prestigious Beacon Academy about that name you could probably get a variety of responses.

Most of the staff would tell you that at 15 years old, she was one of the youngest people to ever enroll in their fine school. Many professors that work with her would tell you that the young girl was full of potential and that she would go far as a Huntress. Indeed, she was accepted into the school two years early on account of her being a talented combatant and later proving that she had the tactical acumen of a team leader during her initiation.

The students that have trained with her would probably know her as the peppy, if a bit socially awkward, leader of the cleverly named Team RWBY. Many of the students who went up against her in sparring matches however, would tell you that in a fight she is fast. Unbelievably fast. The fact that her weapon of choice is a combination scythe and sniper rife would probably be brought up in conversation. Word had it that she built that monstrosity with her own two hands back at Signal Academy.

The Crescent Rose. That was the name Ruby gave to her weapon. It was a beautiful example of a category of weapons called High Caliber Sniper Scythes, or HCSS for short. She never went anywhere without it; the weapon could almost always be found folded up on her back under the red cloak she always wore. She maintained her weapon almost religiously; cleaning, polishing, sharpening, lubricating, and generally tweaking it every chance she got.

Some students claimed they had seen her sitting in the locker room cradling the scythe like a baby and whispering to it.

When asked about this Ruby simply said that they didn't understand proper weapon maintenance.

So, what kind of picture do all these details paint? They paint the image of a quirky, talented, mechanically inclined girl that's practically oozing with potential. Knowing this, it wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone if she did something else that was strange.

It all started one late night with Ruby laying in her bunk and watching television on her Scroll. The bright screen of the electronic device illuminated her face and the wall behind her. Her teammates, who she shared the room with, were all asleep though so no one was bothered. From the perspective of an observer, headphones blared incomprehensibly as the girl flipped through various programs and channels.

"...but wait! There's more!"

"The chances of survivors are slim to none, unfor-..."

"...UFOs. Alien invaders? Or simple delusions? Find out ne-..."

"...the Brown Bear in its natural habitat..."

"...and that's why its called a clock radio!"

Ruby sighed. Hundreds of channels and nothing to watch. She was about to close her Scroll and sleep when the next show caught her attention.

"...and welcome to Late Night D.I.Y. where the most interesting home projects are displayed and explained. Tonight we'll be discussing how a local man converted a trashed security android into a personal robotic assistant."

Ruby settled in to watch; for some reason the show sounded very interesting to her.

She was completely absorbed into the nearly hour long program. She watched as the interviewee explained how he found a derelict android, an AK-130 security bot apparently, in a scrap yard. She listened as he explained all the things he had to repair and replace "... tighten a joint here, replace a fried interface there...". When she saw how the newly refurbished machine performed however, Ruby knew she had to have one.

She imagined what it would be like to have a servant. "I'm sure Weiss would know something about that." Ruby thought snidely in reference to her well off teammate. She didn't have to stretch her imagination far to see what kind of benefits of having an assistant would be. For example, she could send a robot into the dining hall to retrieve cookies. She could get cookies or strawberries without ever having to leave her dorm!

Even with that single application it was a worthy cause in her mind. However, as a Huntress in training she was expected to slay monsters. Naturally that meant if she had a personal robot it would need to be able to do the same. Perhaps keep it simple and tack a bunch of guns onto it? Or give it a melee weapon like a sword or a spear or maybe even a scythe like hers.

Ruby figured she'd cross that bridge when she got there. She put away her Scroll and pulled her sleep mask over her eyes. That night she dreamt of mechanical cookies and chocolate chipped swords.

* * *

><p>The following day during a free period, Ruby ventured to one of the various practice rooms located on academy grounds. This particular room had robotic practice units which students used to simulate being attacked by multiple enemies at once. The girl wasn't interested in that particular feature today though. She passed the door that led into that specific room and instead headed to a nearby office across the hall.<p>

Ruby knocked lightly on the door marked 'Quartermaster and Maintenance' and entered the room. Inside she found a small, narrow office with a wooden desk on the other end of the room. Behind the desk sat an older gentleman with a balding head of grey hair. He was busily typing away at a computer stationed in front of him.

"Take a seat." The man said without looking up from his work.

Ruby awkwardly shuffled into a chair directly opposite of the man.

The apparent Quartermaster finally looked at her with dark brown eyes and said "So, what do ya need young lady?"

She began nervously touching her index fingers together "Well... I was wondering if I could have something..."

The man raised an eyebrow at that, rolled his chair back and placed his hands behind his head. "If you need supplies from the school's warehouse you're going to need to fill out a requisition form. If you need something we don't have and you can't get yourself, talk to 'Acquisition'. If you just need something remotely related to weapons talk to someone over there under 'Ordnance'. Honestly though it would probably be faster to just go into the city and shop around..."

"Umm no." Ruby began "I was wondering if I could somehow get a hold of one of your robots. It doesn't have to be working, just preferably with its arms and legs still attached."

The Quartermaster looked thoughtful and responded "Well, normally I'd tell you tough luck but... there is one particular unit that would be far more convenient for me if I got rid of it than having it repaired."

"Why?" The girl questioned.

"I don't just fill out paperwork all day you know. I got to maintain these buckets of bolts too. And this particular unit is going to be an absolute pain in the as- I mean rear, to fix. Some jerkoff severely damaged the core systems and, due to school policies I hardly agree with, I can't just swap out the parts: I got to fix 'em by hand." The man explained.

"However, if its deemed irreparable or better yet missing I'd be able to order a new one instead."

"So... can I have it?"

"...If you're gonna fix it, yes, you can have it."

Ruby was about to jump out of her chair and give the man a handshake or even a hug when he raised a finger. "But."

"You have to tell me what you need it for."

She gave the Quartermaster her best straight face and stated "I'm going to build a robo-butler."

The Quartermaster blinked "Alright then. Just... don't burn down the school or anything." He clicked around on his computer for a few moments before finally turning back to Ruby.

"Okay, you know where we keep our robots?"

"Yep."

"Okay, great. Just go into the storage room and find locker 23. It'll be already unlocked. Uh, there should be a dolly somewhere in the room to help you move it. You are taking it to your dorm right?

"Umm, yeah I guess."

"Great. Good luck then, on your project. Have fun."

Ruby smiled warmly at the older man as she turned and left his office "Will do!"

* * *

><p>It was only after she had dragged the machine back to her dorm and opened it up did she find out the extent of the damage. True to the Quartermaster's word, the damage on the motherboard could be best described as deep fried. Then flash frozen. Then filled with bullet holes.<p>

Fortunately, the damage was only in a single section; the limbs and other important pieces appeared to be functional. The only other damage was superficial. The paint being scratched up from years of abuse. 'Oh well, I was gonna repaint it anyway.' Ruby thought.

Indeed, it wouldn't do if her robot didn't match her usual black and red clothing scheme. The lightish grey would have to go, as well as the obnoxious Beacon Academy crossed axe logos emblazoned upon it.

Sighing, the girl closed the back panel; her hands running over the small engraved text that stated the androids model number. 'AK-130T'. A special variant, apparently. Compared to the standard model used throughout the world, the AK-130T had no internal weapons, making its arms shorter and closer to normal human proportions while also being slightly denser since what could have been weapon weight was now solid alloyed metals. Its hands were also far more dexterous so it could use weapons or tools an overseer assigned it. According to the manual, at least.

Ruby dragged the robot to the corner of the room on the right side of her bunk. As she set the machine against the wall the girl realized she had forgotten to tell any of her teammates her idea. She knew her sister, Yang, would support her and that Blake would probably be indifferent to it. But Weiss... Ruby didn't know how her icy partner would react. Hopefully positively. She had made that promise to be the 'best teammate ever' just a few weeks ago, so surely she would at least go along with it.

She glanced up at a nearby clock, noting she had ten minutes till her next class started. Ruby gave the broken android, her android, one last look before leaving the room and locking the door behind her.

* * *

><p>Darkness. Darkness all around. A still, quiet void. Suffocating in its omnipresence.<p>

He couldn't feel his hands. Or legs. Or head. Or anything for that matter. All he could 'see' was pitch black nothing. Though, he supposed you couldn't really see nothing per se, but the fact still stood. He saw nothing.

He wasn't quite sure how long he had been in this state or how this situation came to be. All he knew was a vague awareness of himself. He was still thinking though, thinking that he could think. He counted that as a plus.

Thinking. Thoughts. Memories. Remember... remember! How had he ended up like this anyway?

'You have to remember.' A voice spoke in his mind. It wasn't really a voice. It was like... an idea that wasn't from himself. Close your eyes and imagine a sentence in your head. Kinda like that.

'Very perceptive.'

"Thanks creepy voice."

'I thought I wasn't a voice.'

"Spontaneously-forming-idea-thing is a bit cumbersome. Voice is much easier."

'A fair point.'

Right. He needed to remember something. He tried to find his most recent memory.

[Darkness. Darkness all around. A still, quie-]

"Too recent!" He sighed. He idly wondered how he sighed if he had no lungs or body that he was aware of but decided he would answer that another time.

"A little further now..."

[He walked down the street illuminated by the soft yellow light of a street lamp. A cool breeze ruffled his hair as he shifted his grip on the brown paper bag he held in front of him. A quick glance inside the bag confirmed that the contents hadn't become too jostled.]

"Better."

'Try to remember.'

"What am I looking for?"

'How you arrived here.'

He focused once again, trying to follow the previous memory.

[Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the brick wall to his left light up. Logically, he looked right expecting to see a car approaching the cross at the T-intersection he was passing. Two bright white head lights were visible in the dark; their shining orbs like the eyes of some beast.]

Beast was a very apt description.

[The screeching of rubber on asphalt, the air in his lungs leaving violently, a sickening series of snaps and cracks, and pain. So much PAIN. Then finally, merciful darkness.]

"Oh..."

'Indeed.'

"I'm... dead?"

'Yes.'

* * *

><p>Ruby stared intently at a glass shelf filled with a selection of electronic parts.<p>

"Hmm."

"...Hello, miss? Do you need help?"

"Hmmmm."

"Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Hmmmmmm."

"Alright then if you need anything I'll be right ove-."

"Actually! I am looking for something."

The sales clerk smiled at the teenager; like a predator baring its teeth at a potential catch. Finally a chance for a commission!

"Oh? And what would that be?"

The girl smiled just as brightly right back at him. "A core processor for a AK-130T is all."

The would-be salesman noticeably paused before responding. "Well miss, it seems you've come to the right store. You see, there's an item that fits your needs and its... kinda on sale right now." He gestured with his hand for Ruby to follow him.

The clerk led her to the front counter, dramatically spinning on his heel and letting his dark blue work vest sway in the motion. He reached under the counter and pulled out a small, plain, brown cardboard box.

"Bum da da daaaa! And here it is!"

The worker opened the box enthusiastically and presented it to his young customer.

"Oooooooo! What is it?"

Inside the box, Ruby found a processor chip. The special thing about it was the fact a red gem or crystal of some sort had been embedded into it.

"That, is a slightly modified robotics processor that's standard in most of the the AK line. It... was the project of the late owner of the store." The employee answered solemnly.

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Ruby tenderly replied.

"It's alright. It happened a few months ago. She had no living family to speak of, so responsibility of the store fell to the employees. Why this is relevant you may be wondering is because her Will specifically stated for one of us to give this to a customer the first chance we got." The salesman took a breath "So, what would it take for you to go home with this item?"

"Well, are you sure it'll work in a AK-130T?" The red cloaked girl inquired.

"Positive. In fact it should plug into most anything electronic made in Atlas."

"Really? That's convenient."

"Yeah. You gotta love Atlesian efficiency, ha ha."

Ruby shared the laugh, thinking her partner would definitely know something about that.

"So, how much is it exactly?"

The salesman scratched his head. "Considering the circumstances I'd say 140 Lien would be fair."

"I'll take it!" The girl immediately agreed. She had been prepared to pay twice that amount so she didn't see any downside.

Ruby pulled out a wallet and retrieved the required amount of money. A moment later she left the store, box (in bag) in hand. It was the last piece she needed, having spent the last several days tracking down spare parts around the school and city. She felt good about the deal she got. In fact, as soon as she laid her hands upon the piece she knew she had to have it. It was like... when she touched it, it touched her back.

If she wanted to be poetic, Ruby would have said the little part touched her Soul.

Perhaps, if she were paying attention, she would have found that to be more literal than it should have been.

* * *

><p>"If I'm dead, then this is the afterlife?" He asked.<p>

'No.' The Other answered.

"Then what's going on? Why am I here?"

'To hear an offer.'

"Well, I got nothing else to do. I'm listening.

'From this point on, you're fate diverges into two distinct paths. You may rest and await the end of everything, or you may live again.'

"What kind of an offer is that? Anyone would choose life!"

'Because the only reason you get to make this choice is because of special circumstances.'

"What kind of special circumstances?"

'The impossible has happened. The walls between have been breached.'

"What's that supposed to mean?"

'It means Terra has connected to one of the other realms.'

"Wait other realms? Like other worlds?"

'Similar, yes.'

"So there's a way between two worlds now. What does this have to do with me?"

'Victim of happenstance.'

"What?"

'The conditions of your demise and events in both your world and the other have made you the only being capable of transference by this method at this time. Should you choose to accept this offer, you will live again in this other world. If you decline, you may rest peacefully and forget any of this happened.'

He weighed his options. On one hand he could sleep; a nice, long, dreamless sleep could do him some good. On the other hand: live again. In another world even! How could he pass that up? How could he even think about missing that chance? When he was a kid, he always dreamed about going to space. To see other planets and meet strange creatures. Maybe... maybe this could be something like that.

"I can't really say no to a chance to live again, can I?"

'I didn't think you would.'

"Then consider your offer accepted. I want to live. What do I do now?"

'Good. Very good. Now, relax and... prepare for reanimation.' With that, he felt a presence he didn't know was there leave him and the dark nothingness around him lifted. Revealed from behind the veil he didn't know was there before was another wall. This one was red with many facets. It reminded him of a gemstone... like a ruby.

It was a beautiful surface. All clean and polished. Entrancing really. Red wasn't really his color though. He much preferred its opposite: green. The wall seemed to have read his mind because with just that thought it turned a vivid, emerald green.

Thinking that he could change the color at will, he brought thoughts of blue to his mind. It took several moments to realize it wasn't working. Maybe it was because he favored green over anything else? He mentally shrugged it off and focused on something more important.

Now what? How long until... he... got a... new... body?

The strangest sensation overcame him, like electricity coursing through him as his vision alternated between the emerald wall and static.

More senses came to him. He could feel the gentle tug of gravity and the solid ground under his feet. He had feet! And arms, legs, torso and head too! He experimentally flexed his hands and tested the motion of his arms. When he was satisfied with that he marched in place a few times. He didn't dare actually move though; he hadn't gained any vision or hearing yet.

The thought occurred to him that if anyone saw his little routine, they would have found it quite strange. But what were the chances anyone was watching?

* * *

><p>"What's it doing?"<p>

"I have no idea."

"I thought you said you were good with this kind of thing?"

"I said I was a dork with weapons, Weiss, software is not my thing."

"Ruby, I hope none of the parts you bought were faulty."

"I hope so too..."

Ruby and Weiss stood in their dormitory and watched as Ruby's robot flexed, nodded, and marched in the center of the room. Thankfully it hadn't actually moved from its spot. The optics hadn't powered on yet, as evidenced by the missing glow from its 'face'.

It was around seven in the evening when they got back from their trip into the city. Blake and Yang had changed back into their school uniforms and left because they had an evening class that day. They said they'd be in the library for a study session afterwards. Weiss had decided to stay and study in the dorm while Ruby tinkered on her project. Weiss was content on studying in relative silence with her partner and team leader in the room. In her mind, just occupying the same room as her was bonding enough. She was thoroughly engrossed in her textbook however, so naturally Weiss nearly jumped out of her chair when Ruby seemingly materialized at her side.

"Hey Weiss!" The younger leader greeted.

"Gah!" The white haired girl had sputtered but quickly recovered "What do you want?"

"I'm about to start it up for the first time!" Ruby announced "You wanna watch?"

The more studious of the pair was about to bite off a scathing remark of having something better to do, but remembered her promise. 'Best teammate ever, Weiss.' Her textbook could wait.

"Okay, sure."

Ruby smiled brightly and zoomed off to her android's side and flipped open a back panel. "Time to wake up!" She pressed down a finger on its back; presumably the power button. A trio of horizontal bars on its chest lit up with a lively crimson light. Which shortly flickered out and turned green.

"Well, that's weird."

That was a few minutes ago. Back in the present the android was still exercising, as it were.

"Should... we do something? Weiss tentatively asked.

"Nah, just give it a few more minutes. It might be some kind of weird start up sequence." Ruby said

* * *

><p>INITIALIZING<p>

"Well that is definitely strange." He thought to himself. He didn't think the first thing he'd see in his presumably new body was a elongated, hexagonal text box with that word. As the word vanished a grid pattern traced itself out on his vision, first the vertical lines then the horizontal. They flared brightly then vanished shortly thereafter.

He consciously stilled his body and straightened his back. Doing his best to 'look' what he assumed was straight ahead. He prepared himself just in time for one moment his vision was featureless blackness, the next, like switching channels on a television, his sight finally returned to him. And the sight before him wasn't exactly one he was expecting.

The first and most obvious things before him were two other people. Two young ladies specifically, maybe teenagers. The one on the left was wearing all black and red. A black, long sleeved blouse and skirt with red trimmings and some kind of red stringed corset thing on her abdomen. Black boots with red laces, black leggings. Glancing up he noted her relatively short hair: with bangs parted to the right, black... with a red tint. Speaking of red, she also wore a red cape or cloak on her back.

She had a hand rested on her chin, but as he observed her it fell to her side as she turned and said something to the other person in the room. He saw her lips move but didn't hear anything. A small text box in the corner of his vision helpfully stated 'INITIALIZING AUDIO'.

The other person in the room, the girl on the right, was dressed in white and a light shade of blue. She wore a white, thigh-length dress and bolero jacket. He gave her the same once over as the other girl and noted the calf-length wedge boots and how the collar on her jacket was scarlet on the inside. But the most striking feature on this girl was her long white hair tied up in an off center ponytail. How did someone that young looking have white hair?

He wondered whether it was natural, dyed, or if the girl was really just that stressed out.

While he was pondering this, Red approached him. She walked around him as if inspecting him; given his circumstances she probably was. When he turned his head to track her however, he got a look of his new body.

His body appeared to be made of metal. He brought a hand up in front of his face and confirmed his suspicions. His hand, his arm, presumably his whole body was unmistakably mechanical. As he flexed his fingers, he admired how beautifully articulated and finely machined they were. They had the same range of motion a fleshy body would've had.

While he was occupied admiring his hand, Red had apparently stepped back in front of him; silver eyes looking directly up at his own. Her lips moved, and judging from his limited experience reading lips, he deduced she had probably said "Hello".

Not wanting to be rude he tried to return her greeting but nothing happened. Nothing came out of his mouth. Although, he realized he probably didn't have a mouth but made sure anyway. Sure enough, his hands found nothing but smooth surface on his face. A new text box appeared in the corner of his vision: 'INITIALIZING SPEECH'

Red began speaking again and he still couldn't hear her. He was about to gesture with his arms to communicate that fact, when his hearing finally returned.

"-onding? Hello? Are you working? Hmm maybe there's something wrong with the voice commands..."

He brought one hand up to where his ear would've been with the palm facing forward and then brought it down, closed it into a fist and stuck a thumb up. The intended message was 'I can hear'. Red seemed to comprehend this for the next thing she said was "Can you understand me?"

He nodded his head in affirmative.

"Yes! Alright what about your speech function? Can you talk?"

He tapped his neck and held up one finger. 'In a moment.' Red didn't seem to quite understand with the way she raised an eyebrow and turned to look at White.

White however understood and told Red "I think it's still starting up." Red turned back to look at him. "So you can talk, but not right now?"

He nodded in affirmation and held one finger up again.

"Right. Just give you a moment." Red surmised and walked off towards his right and sat on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed he just noticed.

'That doesn't look safe.' He thought. Indeed the 'bunk bed' looked like a hasty modification of two normal twin sized beds with the top bunk being suspended from the ceiling on ropes. It wasn't even level! Looking to his left he found another shoddy construction: another set of single beds piled on top of each other, this one having stacks of books wedged between the posts to grant additional height.

'That has to be some kind of safety code violation or something.'

He was trying to think of a possible solution to fix the bunk beds (besides acquiring new frames outright) when White spoke up. "You know, I've never heard of an Android communicating through gestures before."

Android? They thought he was a robot? Well, he supposed he probably was now. It would explain the text boxes he keeps seeing and the whole 'being made of metal' thing.

This was not what he was expecting when that... Other offered him a second chance.

"Neither have I. It looks so smooth and natural too." Red responded.

He added to the exchange by simply shrugging.

What followed was several long minutes of him just standing still and observing the room while the two young women watched him. He thought about just leaving the room but he had some questions and these two seemed friendly enough. If only he could talk sooner...

As soon as that thought was half formed the text box in the corner of his vision flashed green and said 'READY' before disappearing. He tried to feel if there was anything different now and felt a new presence roughly where his lips would have been. He tried mentally reaching out for it, similar to the way you'd isolate a single muscle or body part, and instantly felt it come 'alive' under his attention. He let it go, instinctively knowing that if he thought of something while it was active it would be vocalized.

'Wait how did I know that? Why was it instinctive? Was it some kind of perk of being a robot?'

'Well, only one way to find out.' He thought wondering if his instincts were correct. He prepared his first words in this supposedly new world.

* * *

><p>"If I'm right, then this is a speaker."<p>

Ruby's head shot up at the synthesized voice and found her robot looking right at her from the center of the room.

"I guess I was right. Hello." It said.

"You're fully functional now?" She asked it, stood and walked in front of it.

"As far as I can tell, yeah." It responded.

"Alright! Wait, now what do I do? Uhhh..." Ruby dashed off towards the desk next to the one Weiss was sitting at and picked up a small booklet entitled 'AK-130T Owner's Manual'. "Umm let's see here... Aha! Test voice commands!" She cleared her throat and struck a pose. "AK-130T! Step forward!" She yelled while pointing at the machine for added emphasis.

The robot merely looked at her blankly before pointing at itself and saying "Who, me?"

Ruby visibly deflated at that and flipped a few pages in the booklet "Hmm, if unit does not respond make sure unit recognizes you as operator..."

"Uh, actually, Miss. If I could I ask a few questions." The android vocalized.

Ruby looked up from her booklet, first at the robot then Weiss. The white haired girl was giving her a questioning stare. She gave her teammate a shrug and a 'I don't know' face before turning back to the android and answering "Umm, okay?"

"Great. First question: I'm a robot, right?" The machine asked.

"Uh, yeah." Ruby oh so eloquently replied.

"Okay. Just making sure. Next question: What's our deal here? Did you buy me or what?"

"Well kinda. You were broken, so I put you back together from parts I found."

"So, you own me?"

"...Yes?"

"Oh." The robot stepped back and fell on its rear; its back propped against the bookshelf under the window. It adopted a thinker's pose with its right hand under its chin and its left hand on its right elbow.

Ruby could already see there was something seriously wrong here. The manual didn't say anything about the unit asking questions. It was supposed to just be a mindless drone that blindly followed simple orders! It was almost as if...

It had a soul.

That thought scared her. If her robot had somehow become a living, intelligent being, she couldn't keep it around and have it do stuff for her. That would be like... slavery! Which is wrong!

Working with that assumption, the red cloaked girl sat down next to the thinking machine. "Hey."

"You're not like any other robot, are you?"

The android in question glanced at her before staring at the floor "What gave you that idea?"

"Well, you ask questions. A machine waits for someone to tell it what to do... and it doesn't care what it is or who owns it."

The android was silent so Ruby took that as a sign to keep talking.

"But you don't seem to be like that. You're like, alive. With a soul. In fact..." She reached out and grasped its right hand "I can feel it."

And she could. That feeling, the powerful, almost indescribable feeling that could only be an Aura.

"You can feel my soul? Literally or figuratively?" It questioned.

"Literally." She answered earnestly.

They shared a quiet moment which was broken shortly by Weiss calling out from the other side of the room. "Wait, it has a soul? How can a machine have a soul? Atlesian Knights don't exactly leave the factory with one you know!"

The android turned its head and looked at Ruby "Atlesian Knight?" it asked her to which she replied by knocking on it's shoulder "What you're supposed to be."

"Oh." It suddenly stood up and started pacing back and forth. "I don't think I'm the most qualified person to ask, but I'll tell you everything I know." It began.

"Okay so one night I pay a visit to the grocery store 'cause I'm out of milk and I already poured a bowl full of cereal. Anyway, I go over there buy what I need and start walking back home. Everything was going fine and dandy until I pass this T-intersection. I see some headlights, car doesn't stop apparently and now I'm dead. Float in darkness for a few minutes or days not sure which, get an extraordinarily vague offer from a creepy voice thing and next thing I know I'm a robot." The android finished.

Both girls looked at each other before looking at the robot. "What?"

"I died and came back as a robot."

Weiss recovered from the revelation first "How... is that even possible?"

"Beats me. I'm just glad to be alive again. Not what I was expecting though."

"Wait, so you were a person before? Where are you from? Maybe we can track down your body and reverse this somehow." Ruby suggested.

"There are two things wrong with that. One, I wouldn't even know how to go about moving souls between bodies and two, remember that creepy voice thing I mentioned?"

"Yeah?"

"Well it implied, no, outright stated I'd wake up in another world or something. But I haven't seen anything too different yet. Except her hair." The android pointed towards Weiss.

"Hey! What's wrong with my hair?" Weiss exclaimed defensively.

"It's white."

"So!?"

"Why would you dye your hair white?"

"Dye!? I'll have you know my hair is completely natural!"

"Strange."

Weiss was about to go off on a tirade before Ruby interrupted her. "Wait, did you just say your from another world?"

"From what I understand, yes."

"Does that mean you're an alien?" The girl asked excitedly.

"...I was Human, if that's what you're getting at." It responded flatly.

"Yeah but if your really from another world you're technically an alien!" She retorted.

The android held up a finger and, if it had a mouth, Ruby was sure it would have been open in a ready reply but its blank green face offered no expression. "You... are correct. Technically correct, which is the best kind." Ruby smiled at her small victory.

"How can you even be sure you're on another world anyway?" Weiss jumped back into the conversation.

"Hmm..." the robot audibly hummed. "Well tell me, do the words America, Europe, Africa, or Asia mean anything to you?"

"Nope." Ruby responded.

"No, they don't." Answered a bemused Weiss. "What do they mean?"

"They're the names of some continents where I'm from." It said. "But I think there is one surefire way to know for sure." The android moved towards the window and pulled aside the curtains. It stared intently into the night sky.

Ruby stood up next to the machine and looked outside as well, trying to discern what exactly it was looking at.

"If I wasn't sure before I'm definitely sure now."

"Why what is it?"

"The moon."

"What about it?"

"It's broken."

"Oh. I'm guessing it's in one piece back home?" Ruby speculated.

"Yeah, it is." The android confirmed.

"Hmm."

"Hmm indeed."

The duo pondered on the new information for a moment before the robot suddenly spoke up. "Well none of that really matters now does it? I'm here now and apparently I've unintentionally possessed your ah, property. Sorry about that."

"It's no problem." The girl answered sincerely.

"...Now what do I do? I get the feeling that a sentient robot looking for a job isn't exactly a common sight around here." It stated

"Nope. Wait, what do you need a job for?" She asked.

"Living expenses of course. I'll probably need to ingest fuel or recharge or something every so often. And let's not forget maintenance costs..."

"Well, you could always stay here." Ruby suggested.

"Pardon?"

"Yeah, I mean, I was already planning on taking care of a robot. Not much has changed. You need somewhere to stay and someone to take care of you. I need an assistant. It's a win-win right?"

The android turned to face her "Well, what kind of work would this entail?"

"Anything I might need help with, I guess. Picking things up, cleaning things up, moving things, killing things. You know, anything an extra set of hands might come in handy for." She happily explained.

"Killing things? I hope you mean small bugs." It worried.

"Those too. But I mean things a little bigger than that."

He knew there had to be a catch. A second shot at life? There had to be a catch. At first he thought waking up as a machine was the catch. Which he was okay with. It would take some getting used to, but it wasn't a big deal. Then he thought officially being the property of a teenage girl was the catch. Which didn't seem so bad; she seemed talented if she could put something as complicated as a humanoid robot together.

Now, he was having second thoughts about that.

"What do you mean 'bigger'?" He asked.

The girl with the red cloak, still wearing a cheery smile, elaborated. "Like scorpions the size of buses, and birds the size of aircraft!"

"...Are you being serious?" He hoped to God she wasn't.

"Of course! There's also wolves and bears and snakes and a whole bunch of other monsters that want to rip people's faces off!" Her face turned to an expression of puzzlement. "Are there no Grimm where you're from?"

"What's a Grimm?" He asked just as confused.

"You know, the monsters that do nothing but hurt people."

"The soulless monsters that have been bent on the destruction of humanity for as long as we can remember." White added matter-of-factly. She was still standing near the desks at the front of the room.

And he found the catch. He was reborn into a world where humanity had to fight or face extinction. Oh joy.

"So, wait. You're telling me that this is a world where violent creatures are actively trying to wipe out civilization?" He voiced, receiving solemn nods. "There was nothing like that back home. All the animals the could pose an existential danger to humans are either extinct, not aggressive enough, or too few in number to do anything."

"Must be peaceful." Red wistfully sighed.

"Hardly." He replied "People still kill each other all the time."

Red seemed disheartened by this while White nodded knowingly. He wondered how dangerous these 'Grimm' were if Red honestly expected him to be able to kill them. He asked in a roundabout way.

"So, how have you guys survived this long against genocidal monsters?"

"Proper application of Dust and Aura of course." White recited.

"Big walls, razor sharp blades, and a whole lot of guns." Red said.

While what Red said made perfect sense to him, White's statement confused him. Though he pressed on with the questions. "And you expect me to be able to kill one of these things?"

"You won't be alone. I'll be right there with you." Red assured.

"You can fight?"

"Yep! I can, she can, everyone here at the academy can." She said proudly.

"Academy?"

"Oh yeah. We're in Beacon Academy, where the very best come to train to be Huntsmen!"

"What's a Huntsmen?"

"Someone who fights for what's right and protects those who can't help themselves!" She explained. "Normally we'd be called upon to slay Grimm, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are also supposed to help keep the peace between the kingdoms."

It got better, or worse, apparently. Not only was he in a world inhabited by blood-thirsty monsters, but there was a special group of people conditioned to fight them. And this girl was most likely training to become one. Wonderful.

"And you're one of these Huntresses? You've killed before?" He questioned.

"Not yet, we're still in training. But yeah. I have a few Grimm kills to my name." Red stated.

He sized the girl up. She couldn't be more than five-two! And she looked so innocent...

"That's hard to believe." He said truthfully.

Red gave him a bright smile and stepped back a few paces. She reached under her cloak and pulled out a rather large rectangular... thing. She held it out in front of her and it transformed. It extended and unfolded into a mechanical masterpiece: a scythe whose length was almost twice the girl's height. More interesting however were what looked like an optical scope, bolt action, and a magazine fitted into a receiver along the weapons haft.

"Is... that a gun?" He asked dumbfounded.

"It's also a scythe." She answered with near manic grin plastered on her face.

What. The. Hell.

He was going to question it. He was gonna ask important things like 'How do you even lift that' or 'How is that even practical'. A small, insane part of him wanted to ask about its muzzle velocity. But he didn't say anything. The girl in front of him looked serious with that thing in her hands. A crazy kind of serious, but serious all the same.

He consciously reminded himself he was on another world and that he would most likely see things that would challenge what he believed to be possible. "Sure, why not."

She laughed. Red laughed like any other innocent kid would. "So what do you think? You wanna work with my team?"

Team. He was sure she meant besides her and White over there. It would explain why there was two sets of bunk beds in this room. But did he want to work with her? It would be nice to have some friends in this new world. It would mean slaying monsters and saving would mean... being someone who mattered. A hero; like a damn fairytale. And besides, it's not like he had anything better to do at the moment.

"I think... I'm gonna have to say yes." He finally said.

Red swiftly folded her scythe-gun back up and put it on her back. "I'm glad for that. Now I won't have to tell anyone the robot I built ran away!" She giggled.

He audibly laughed at Red's little joke but said something he felt was important. "I expect to be entering this agreement as an equal. I ask that you treat me like a human being and not so much disposable equipment."

"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." Red said genuinely.

He suddenly realized something: he never got her name or introduced himself! He would rectify it as they sealed the deal.

He stuck a hand out in a waiting handshake which thankfully didn't seem to be a foreign concept here as the girl quickly reciprocated the gesture. As they shook he simply said "Charlie Flater."

"I'm sorry?"

"My name. It's Charlie Flater."

Understanding dawned on her face as she replied "Oh shoot I never introduced myself either did I? My name's Ruby Rose."

"A pleasure to meet you Ruby. And what about you?" He called out the only other person in the room. "I presume you have a name?"

The white clad girl scoffed and trudged over. "Weiss Schnee." She said in a flat, neutral tone. He broke off the shake with Ruby and offered his hand to Weiss which she reluctantly took a hold of and gave two, very stiff shakes before pulling back.

"Ruby. Hallway. Now." Weiss grabbed the red cloaked girl by the wrist and drug her off.

"Wha- Weiss? Hey! What's this about!?" Was all the protest the other girl got out before the door slammed behind them, leaving Charlie alone in the room. 'Or is it a dormitory?' He thought, remembering that Ruby said they where in an academy.

He wondered what caused Weiss to react the way she did. He knew next to nothing about the white haired girl so this could be normal behaviour. Maybe.

"Hmm."

* * *

><p>Weiss let go of Ruby's arm and slammed the door behind them. Ruby herself was confused by their sudden departure from the room so offered no resistance.<p>

"Ruby." Weiss started.

"Yes Weiss?" Ruby answered.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU THINKING!?" Weiss demanded.

"Hey, relax! What's the problem?" The red of the two pleaded.

"What's the problem? My teammates 'project' is being possessed by an apparently alien soul and your just gonna let it stay? Can't you see that there are some slight concerns?"

"Name one!"

"We know nothing about it! It could be homicidal!" Weiss reasoned.

"If he tries anything I can always shut him down from my Scroll!" Ruby countered, then remembering she hadn't synched the device to the robot yet. She decided to keep quiet about that.

"He? It's a machine Ruby. It's an it."

"His name is Charlie and he's a he."

"Fine." Weiss huffed in frustration. "Why do you even want to keep him? I don't think anything like this has happened before. Maybe we should turn him over to the experts."

"I don't think there are any experts on this sort of thing, Weiss."

"You know what I mean Ruby. This" she pointed towards the door "is above our level. We should take him to someone with authority. We, should take him to Ozpin. The Headmaster has to know."

"Bu- Weiss!"

"Ruby, as your teammate and your partner I must insist you do this much."

Ruby knew Weiss was right. She knew it was impulsive to arrange for a complete stranger to basically join her team as quickly as she did. She also knew someone would know about Charlie sooner or later. So why not let someone know about him now? And who better than the Headmaster of Beacon? However she feared that Charlie would get taken away; to be cut apart and studied.

'But someone will know eventually.' She couldn't help but feel protective of him. Ruby felt slightly responsible for the whole situation they were in, after all she rebuilt the android in the first place.

"You're right Weiss" Ruby relented "let's take him to Ozpin."

"Thank you." Weiss let out a relieved sigh.

* * *

><p>The two informed Charlie of their intentions for him to meet the Headmaster of the academy. As far as they knew, his particular condition was unheard of. So they deemed it necessary for the head of the institution to be informed of the situation.<p>

Ruby and Weiss walked side by side as he followed them a from a short distance behind as they led him across campus. The few people out wandering to and fro paid them little mind as most just gave a short glance or turned their heads to look as they passed. This small detail stuck out to him; it told him that he wasn't an uncommon sight.

Their short journey ended in the lobby of a large tower near the center of the school. Inside, the trio moved into a waiting elevator and Ruby pressed the button indicating the room at the top of the structure.

The elevator began its climb to the top of the tower. Charlie half expected ambient music to begin to play, but the ascent was silent save for a breath of nervousness from Ruby. Had this been normal circumstances, he would offered the two girls a stick of gum: one of his go-to methods for defeating awkward silences. Needless to say he didn't have a pack of gum on hand, or rather, in pocket.

'After this I should get a backpack or bag of some kind. Even a vest with pockets would do wonders.'

The elevator decelerated and the door emitted a customary 'ding' sound before opening and revealing a rather large, circular room. Inside, and most noticeable, were the large turning gears set inside the walls. Looking up revealed a glass ceiling with even more and larger gears in motion above it. 'Perhaps it's a clock tower and I just didn't see the face when we arrived.' He thought.

On the opposite end of the room was an intricate looking desk of glass and metal; its design reminding him of the clockwork surrounding him. Behind that was a large hemispheric window roughly twice the height of a man. And standing before that, his point of reference.

A bespectacled middle-aged man with a full head of greying hair in a black three piece suit and a dark green scarf wrapped around his neck observed their approach. "Miss Rose, Miss Schnee. Always a pleasure to see my students." The man said. "Although, I rarely get visitors at this time of the evening. What brings you to my office?"

"Well, you see, uh, sir we, no, I did a thing." Ruby stammered out.

The man picked up a mug off the desk and took a sip. "Would this 'thing' have anything to do with the android you brought with you?"

"Uh, yes sir."

"What happened, Ruby?"

"Well, I may have somehow accidentally given it a... soul."

The man reached into his pants pocket and retrieved a slightly larger than hand sized black object. He pulled it apart, revealing it to be some kind of collapsible touchscreen tablet with a translucent interface. He deftly navigated the device, and when he opened the application he needed, he pointed the device in Charlie's direction.

"Hmmm. Interesting. You're right Ruby, that machine is definitely generating an Aura." The man stated. "Do you have any idea how this happened?"

"I think, I should let him speak for himself."

Charlie took that as his cue to speak. "Good evening."

"Oh? You can talk."

"Indeed I can, sir."

"Do you have a name?" The suited man asked.

"My name is Charlie Flater. And you?"

"Everyone around here calls me Professor Ozpin. And as I'm sure these two have told you, I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"Yes, yes they have. It's good to meet you sir."

Ozpin took another sip from his mug "So, what seems to be the issue?"

"We came here to ask what should become of him, sir" Weiss informed.

"I see." Ozpin said. "Ruby, how did Charlie come into your care?"

"He started as a project I've been working on." Ruby answered. "I wanted to build an assistant."

"He looks oddly similar to the units we use in the sparring halls."

"That's because I, uh, got it from there." Ruby said. "But I didn't just take it! I asked permission first."

"Really? Well okay, as long as the Quartermaster approved." Ozpin allowed.

"And what about you Mister Flater? Did you simply come online and choose a name?

"No sir." Charlie answered. "I was Human, once. Last thing I remember was getting hit by a car."

"So you claim you died and came back." Ozpin stated. "How did you accomplish this?"

"Someone or something asked me." Charlie replied.

"Hmmm." The headmaster hummed. "Where did you live? Have you tried contacting any relatives or friends?

"I doubt I'd be able to reach them." Charlie said. "That something that gave me second chance told me I'd have live it on another world."

That elicited a raised eyebrow and a drawn out drink from the mug. "So you say you're from another world..." Ozpin said. "What was the name of your home then?

"Its name is Earth." Charlie answered. "And up until this point it was the only life bearing world I knew of... It's good to know we're not as alone as we thought."

"Indeed. If you truly are from another world then let me be the first to say welcome to Remnant." Ozpin greeted.

"Thank you Professor."

Ozpin walked over to the group and offered a handshake to Charlie, which he graciously accepted. "Now then Miss Rose. What were you planning on doing about this?"

"I was just going to continue what I originally set out to do." Ruby said. "I still want a helper and he needs somewhere to stay. He could be considered as a part of Team RWBY."

Ozpin hummed in thought as he paced back behind his desk. When he took his seat he spoke. "I can't enroll him in the school and make him officially a part of your team. But it seems to me your idea is sound."

"Miss Rose, Mister Flater is now your complete responsibility, for now. Mister Flater, Miss Rose should be considered your direct superior. Officially, you will be listed as a piece of special equipment under her possession. However Ruby, I expect you to treat Charlie with the same dignity and respect as you would any other person. Flater, report any exploitation." Ozpin dictated.

Weiss's jaw dropped in shock. Shocked that the Headmaster was supporting her partner's original plan. "But sir! There are so many things we don't know! Anything could go wrong here!"

"I know, Miss Schnee." Ozpin confirmed. "But tell me Weiss, is there any better place to study something like this than our institution?"

"I... well... No sir." The white haired girl answered.

"So you have an ulterior motive for arranging this." Charlie said.

Ozpin took a swig from his mug. "I am guilty of nothing but the pursuit of knowledge. You are a unique case that warrants study and I'm very curious." He smiled. "Consider this an assignment, girls."

Ruby fist pumped in celebration of the approval, Weiss facepalmed, and Charlie merely looked between the two and shrugged.

"I wasn't kidding. I expect a report written by the end of the semester."

Weiss perked up at that. The chance to earn more credits was always welcome. Ruby however, you could almost see some of the joy physically leaving her. "Alright." Ruby spoke. "I think that's all for now."

"Indeed." Ozpin replied. "I will contact you if I think of anything else. You may go now."

The trio turned and began to walk away when the Headmaster called out "Miss Schnee." He gestured for her to come closer and for the other two to keep walking. When she got to the front of his desk he said in a low voice "If anything does go wrong, I expect you to do your duty as a future Huntress."

Weiss's eyes widened. "Of course, sir."

"Very good. If they ask what this was about tell them I suggested starting by getting to know each other better." He sighed deeply. "You may take your leave now."

The white dressed girl spun on her heel, walked away and joined her compatriots in the elevator. When the doors closed and they departed, Ozpin took one last drink from his coffee and said aloud to the empty room "So, he was telling the truth."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hello. This is my first attempt at a fanfiction. I started writing this chapter early in September and finished sometime in mid-October. If you liked this, I have chapter two finished but I don't want to upload it until I finish chapter three which I only started working on yesterday.<strong>

**Please let me know what you think of this concept. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Soooo... What'd Ozpin say, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

The elevator doors closed after Weiss entered and the car began its descent. "He said that..." she trailed off "that I need to make sure you stay focused!" The white haired girl snapped.

"Focused on what, exactly?" Charlie said.

"School, of course. And studying you." Weiss replied.

"Of course." He flatly stated. "Now what do we do?"

"Well." Ruby began. "We should probably introduce you to Yang and Blake. I think they're still in the library, so we'll look for them there."

"I assume Yang and Blake are the two other members of your team?"

"Yep!"

"Then I look forward to meeting them... Err, say, what are they like? Charlie asked. "I should make a good first impression."

Ruby cast a glance at him. "Hmm, well Blake is quiet. But nice and mellow and reads a lot. And Yang is my sister. She's..."

"A loud, obnoxious, brute." Weiss interjected. "...but competent." She added reluctantly after getting a sour look from Ruby.

"So, Blake is the bookish type and Yang sounds like a party girl." Charlie concluded.

"That would be accurate." Weiss confirmed.

"Hmm."

They descended the rest of the way down in a comfortable silence. When the elevator doors parted, they walked out into the empty lobby. As they were walking Ruby pointed something out. "You know, you should lower your faceplate."

Charlie assumed Ruby was speaking to him. "I have a faceplate?" He felt the top of his head and sure enough found a large, metal protrusion. He slid the thing down over his face, which smoothly locked into place. His vision wasn't obscured in the slightest thanks to the way the visor built into it was designed.

"That looks better!" The girl commented.

"Hey, wait, what did my face look like without the plate?"

"It was just a blank green." Ruby stated. "It was actually kinda creepy looking."

"Gee, thanks."

"Mmhmm!"

Weiss stepped in front of him and examined his new look. "At least it's not as unsettling as the faceless look. Now I know where your eyes are."

"Was it that bad?" Charlie asked. "Why didn't you guys say anything sooner?"

"I dunno. I guess I thought you had a reason."

If Charlie had eyeballs he would have rolled them. "Bah, oh well. Let's just go find this library. Where is it anyway?"

"Not very far, come on!"

* * *

><p>It turned out Beacon Academy had a magnificent library. It took the form of a grand hall with high, vaulted ceilings which had what looked like holographic banners with simple geometric designs hanging from them. Tall bookshelves lined the length of the hall in orderly rows. Above those bookshelves, another level was built as a balcony of sorts with even more, albeit smaller, bookshelves visible on top of that. In the middle of the hall along the length lined up with the shelves were white tables with twin bulbed desk lamps. A handful of students could be seen scattered around the library; most of them sitting at the tables reading and writing, with a few loners browsing through the books.<p>

All in all, it reminded Charlie fondly of his own school days; afternoons spent studying at various public libraries.

Ruby and Weiss stopped and glanced around in search of their two friends but apparently not finding them as they continued on.

"No luck?" Charlie asked.

"They're probably upstairs." Ruby replied.

Charlie nodded and followed her lead to a stairwell tucked in a corner at the opposite end of the library. He noted that many of the students they passed would give him a strange look but then continue on with their business.

"People are looking at me funny."

"Probably because it's not normal for a training bot to be in the library."

"But I'm not a training bot..."

"Well, they don't know that."

"True."

After a brief ascent up a spiral staircase, the trio surveyed the upper floor. "Let's check where we usually sit." Ruby suggested. Charlie and Weiss wordlessly complied and followed. The red cloaked girl led them to the far end; back on the side where the entrance was. Sitting at a table between bookshelves were two girls, one with long, wavy, black hair and wearing a black bow on her head, and the other with a long mane of blonde hair. Like many other female students they had passed on the way here, the two were wearing what seemed to be the school's uniform: a red, plaid skirt and black jacket with white shirt.

"And there they are!" Ruby announced.

The blonde looked up from her hands, she was holding one of those tablet things, and greeted them.

"Hey guys! Whoa, Ruby did you finally get that thing working?" She exclaimed.

"Shhh." The blonde was shushed by the girl with the black bow.

"Inside voice you! We're in a library!" Weiss chastised with a loud whisper.

"Sorry!" The blonde apologized with the same kind of whisper.

The three of them walked over to the table and Ruby began the introductions. "Anyway! Yang, Blake, meet our new friend Charlie. Charlie, Yang" she pointed to the blonde "and Blake" she gestured to the black haired girl.

"It's good to meet you two." Charlie said and extended a hand to Yang.

"Of course, same to you." Yang shook with what would have been a bone crushing grip. "Pretty awesome A.I. you put in there sis!"

Charlie cast a glance in Ruby's direction before offering a handshake to Blake, who put down her book, took his hand, and shook lightly before looking at Ruby for an explanation.

"Well, you see... a funny thing happened."

* * *

><p>"So, in conclusion..."<p>

"It's not an AI?"

"Nope. And apparently he was Human."

"A Human from another world."

"Yeah, that too."

"And Ozpin wants us to watch him?"

"Yes..."

"And I look forward to working with you all."

Team RWBY had left the library and headed back to their dorm room; Ruby and Weiss explaining the situation to Blake and Yang as they walked, with Charlie trailing just behind the quartet. By the time they arrived back in their room and shut the door, they had finished retelling his tale.

"Alright, cool, I get it. He needs someone to stay with. But did it have to be... us?" Yang said. "I mean, don't get me wrong you seem okay and all but you would think Ozpin would have taken him out of our hands."

"Oh, I'm sure the Headmaster will still be monitoring me but he wants you four to do some of the studying." Charlie spoke. "And as to why I have to stay here... perhaps he's just busy. Or maybe because Ruby technically 'owns me'" he emphasized with air quotes. "Speaking of that, what should I do now?"

All eyes in the room turned to their red cloaked team leader for an answer. "Let's see..." Ruby glanced at a digital clock that read 9:12 P.M. "It's getting pretty late and we have early classes tomorrow, so we really can't do much right now. Maybe we should just start up tomorrow. Until then, let's all get some rest."

"I wonder if I'm even capable of sleep anymore..." Charlie wondered.

"Let's find out. Hold still."

"Wait, what?" Charlie managed to get out before Ruby pulled out a cellphone-sized silver object from a compartment on her belt he just noticed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to try and synch up my Scroll to you so I can see if you have a sleep or standby function." She stated.

"Oh, well okay." He relented and let her get behind him where she opened a small, inconspicuous, panel at the base of his head and plugged the device in. He felt a strange but not uncomfortable pressure when it pushed into place. In the upper right corner of his vision, a notification appeared with a spinning circular symbol and the word 'SYNCHRONIZING'. It quickly flashed green and disappeared.

"I think it's done."

Ruby wordlessly pulled the device from the socket and stepped back in front of him, pulling the object apart and revealing it to be another one of those tablet things. "What'd you call that thing? A Scroll?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I did. Why?"

"Nothing. I just suppose the name fits."

She smiled and nodded before announcing "And here it is. Apparently, I can have you go into a sleep mode from here."

"Well, if we're not doing anything right now just put me under." Charlie asked. Almost immediately he got a prompt that said "Set Sleep time." He thought eight hours instinctively and that amount was entered in the timer. He confirmed the decision and the world went dark around him.

...in his point of view.

For the four young women in the room however, his optics dimmed with a slow, rhythmic, pulsing while his body hunched over and folded into a sort of fetal position; his legs drawn up towards the chest and arms wrapped around the knees. To anyone remotely familiar with the androids used for training purposes in the school, they would recognize this position as the default state the machines took when not active. Which they did.

"Did... did he just fall asleep in the middle of the room?" Weiss huffed in disbelief.

"I guess so." Ruby sighed. "Anyone wanna help me move him?"

"I gotcha little sis." Yang answered and strode over to help Ruby. The two sisters each grabbed an arm and drug Charlie's dormant body to the corner of the room next to Ruby and Weiss's bunks.

After that was taken care of, the four members of Team RWBY got ready for bed. Besides the usual idle chitchat that would be expected, nothing significant happened. Yang fell asleep quickly; the girl passing out almost as soon as she laid down. Weiss tossed and turned for awhile; not feeling entirely comfortable with having to basically sleep next to Charlie. Blake read a book by candlelight for over an hour before extinguishing the flame and pulling a blanket over her head.

Ruby lay awake in her suspended bed and thought about what she should do during the next day. After classes she would probably need to see how capable Charlie was in a fight. She wondered if he could use the combat techniques that all the training androids had loaded into their drives. If he could it would be immensely helpful. She had some fond -albeit painful- memories of sparring with robots similar to Charlie back at Signal. Ruby knew those things could be scary to novice fighters, and with an Aura and real intelligence she knew something like that could be dangerous. Even to a Huntsmen.

She decided she could work with that. With a contented smirk, she pulled her sleep mask over her eyes, turned onto her left side, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>After the world went dark around him, the only thing left in Charlie's field of view was a digital number readout with a notched line above it, like an unlabeled number line. The numbers read 21:15 and the line had an arrow pointing up on the far left side. As soon as he processed these facts however, the arrow moved over to the right by one space and the numbers changed to 22:15.<p>

Out of curiosity he counted how many spaces were on the line and found, coincidentally, eight. The arrow moved to the right and the numbers changed to 23:15.

Perhaps it wasn't coincidental. Maybe, he thought, the line and arrow represented some sort of progress bar. If that were the case then the numbers were most probably a twenty-four hour clock. The arrow moved, the clock changed to 00:15.

"So this is probably how my new body handles sleep." Charlie thought. The whole interface seemed vaguely familiar; like something out of a role-playing video game. The arrow moved, the clock changed to 1:15.

Just like that, hours gone by in what felt like seconds.

2:15

If sleep was going to be like this, perhaps he should have just stayed awake.

3:15

He wondered what kind of things he could do with eight hours of no one bothering him. Maybe explore the campus and the nearby area.

4:15

You could get a lot of walking done in eight hours after all. Besides, he needed to test his endurance. How far could this body go before needing to recharge or refuel? Did it even need to? Ruby didn't discount it when he brought it up earlier that night so probably...

5:15

His vision returned, the control over his limbs restored. He stood and the visor on his head slid over his face. He tried to stretch out of habit but didn't feel any pleasure from it. He still needed to get used to not being fleshy.

Charlie panned his head to the left and saw the white canopy covering Ruby's bed. Looking down he found Weiss sleeping peacefully in the bottom bunk.

It was still dark in the room. At five in the morning it was to be expected. There was a faint dawn light coming through the window; a promise that sunrise was near. Charlie stepped away from his corner of the room and moved towards the front door. He figured he could explore the area while no one was up. He'd be back within an hour, probably. Hopefully Ruby would be awake, for as loathe as he was to admit it, he needed someone to tell him what to do at the moment.

"Listen to me, becoming servile. Oh well. Perhaps it's for the best." Charlie muttered quietly.

He was about to turn the knob and open the door when a voice startled him. "Good morning."

He whipped his head back and found the source of the voice. "Ah, good morning Blake." The black haired girl was huddled in a blanket and propped up against the headboard of her bed with a book in hand. She was also still wearing a black bow on her head he noticed.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"Just going to explore the nearby area. Don't worry about it I don't need a, ah, chaperone." Charlie replied. "If Ruby wakes up before I come back, please tell her what I'm up to. I'll return within the hour."

"Okay." Was her simple response. Charlie took that as his cue to leave and promptly opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. But before he left he said one more thing to Blake. "You know, you shouldn't read in poorly lit rooms. You'll strain your eyes." Although he knew it wouldn't lead to any permanent damage like his parents told him when he was a child, hours of late night and early morning cram sessions had acquainted him very well with the annoying feeling on his eyes.

Blake's eyes widened ever so slightly before she turned on a nearby desk lamp. "I'll be sure to remember that." She said.

"Won't that light wake them up?" He said referring to everyone else in the room.

"They need to get up anyway." Blake said with an almost undetectable amount of sadism.

Meanwhile on the upper bunk, Yang turned over into her pillow and muffled out. "Turn it off! It's not time yet!"

Charlie chuckled darkly. "Ah... with friends like these, eh?" Blake nodded without looking up from her book.

"Anyway, I'll see you around."

* * *

><p>He wandered about the winding halls of the dorm building for twenty minutes, familiarizing himself with its layout. He didn't run into anyone while he did this either, which was strange. But he could hear the telltale signs of life around him; a door shutting too hard, hurried footsteps a floor above him, and muffled speech coming through certain walls.<p>

"I wonder if they're awake yet..." Charlie thought.

He wondered what he should do now. He went through the whole building already and remembered small details about it with startling clarity, so there'd be no point in going again. The only place he hadn't been yet was the roof. He looked out a nearby window and saw the sun was only just beginning to rise. "I haven't watched a sunrise in awhile." Charlie thought as he made his way to the roof.

Conveniently enough, there was a door to the roof access stairwell located near the girl's dorm room. The climb up was uneventful; It was exactly as he'd come to expect for something like this: dull, gray, featureless concrete walls and stairs lit up by harsh white lighting.

When he got to the top, he pushed opened the door and scanned the rooftop. No one there. He vocalized a contented sigh and took to standing near the edge of the roof.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he stood there. Well, that was a lie. He had a digital clock in the upper left hand side of his vision. 5:52, apparently. But the only outside indication that time was passing at all was the movement of the clouds, trees, and that the sun itself was noticeably more visible compared to a few buildings silhouetted by its light. It was a beautiful sight though, what with the way the light reflected off the clouds and various ponds and fountains.

'Its been far too long since I've done this...' Charlie thought.

Although he was relaxed in his current state, his attention was not completely absorbed by watching the sun. So it would come to no surprise that he did hear the door to the roof open and a few footsteps behind him.

"Oh, uh, hi." A distinctly male voice sounded behind him. "I didn't think anyone would be up here."

Charlie turned around to look at the newcomer. A blonde kid in the male school uniform, that is, a black suit with gold buttons and lining, blue vest, white shirt and red necktie.

"And it's a robot. Okay, sure, how'd it get up here?" The kid seemed to speak to himself.

"I walked." Charlie answered coolly.

"Oh. Well, uh, who owns you?"

If he had an eyebrow to raise, he would of. "I don't know if you know her but, Ruby Rose?"

"Ruby? I know Ruby! She's a friend. Wait, she owns you?"

"Sort of. She put this body back together so we've come to an agreement."

"Oh, I remember her saying something about working on a project in her free time a few days ago. I'm guessing that's you?" The blonde guy said.

"Apparently so." Charlie said.

"I wonder how she did it...You must have a really good A.I. 'cause you sound like an actual person."

"Yes. Yes, I suppose you could say that."

"Well anyway... what're you doing up here? Won't Ruby be looking for you?"

"She was still asleep when I left the room, but I'll be returning in just a few minutes so everything should be fine." Charlie said. "And what am I doing up here? Watching the sunrise of course. I assume you're here to do the same?"

"Yeah, I am. I come up here on some mornings it... helps me relax."

"Indeed, it does."

The two of them, man and machine, stood there quietly observing the peaceful sunrise for several more minutes before Charlie abruptly turned to the blonde kid. "I'll be leaving now."

"Oh okay." He acknowledged "Tell Ruby I said hi."

"I would, if I knew your name."

"Uh, Jaune Arc."

"Alright Jaune. Call me Charlie by the way."

"Okay, see you later... Charlie!" Jaune called out as the machine walked away, in the door and down the stairs.

"Man. That was weird." Jaune said to the empty rooftop.

* * *

><p>The trip down was as uneventful as the trip up. Charlie quickly descended down the stairs and onto the level of the dorm room he was looking for. When he reached the door he rapped four times and waited for someone to open the door, stealing a look to his left and right around the hall.<p>

The door swung open and revealed Ruby herself on the other side. "Oh, there you are Charlie! I was starting to wonder what happened to you." She was wearing the plaid skirt, mostly black and gold-detailed jacket, white collared shirt, and black leggings he'd come to associate as the school's uniform. Oddly enough, she was still wearing her red, hooded cloak.

"Just had a walk around the dormitories, as I'm sure Blake told you." The mentioned girl was sitting on the side of her bed, fully dressed and ready for the day, reading a book.

"Yeah she did. Just couldn't help being a little concerned though." Ruby wrung her hands together.

"I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to take him, Ruby." The distinctive voice of Weiss called out. The door to the bathroom stood open with Weiss in front of the mirror brushing her long, white, hair. She was dressed much in the same way as Ruby, minus the leggings and cloak. "The paint and lights would make it clear to anyone that he belongs to someone."

"First, I don't 'belong' to anyone." Charlie said defensively. "Second, you painted me?"

"You weren't... alive yet when I painted you." Ruby defended. "Besides I think the jet black suits you better than the lightish gray I got you with. I'm not sure how the green lighting happened though..."

Charlie shrugged.

"Anyway, how was your walk? See anything interesting?" Ruby asked.

"Not really... well, I was just on the roof and I met some blonde guy who said he knew you. A Jaune Arc?" Charlie replied.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I know him. He's the leader of team Juniper and a friend."

"What were you doing on the roof?" Yang questioned from her place in a chair by a desk, putting on a shoe.

"I was watching the sunrise. As was Jaune apparently." He answered.

"Oh."

That was the end of that. A few more minutes passed as Weiss and Yang finished getting ready for the day's classes. Charlie browsed a few of the bookshelves in the room, picking out a good sized textbook titled "A History of The Modern World." He pulled up a chair at another desk and began to read.

The Founding of The Kingdoms, four bastions of life from the creatures of Grimm: Atlas in the north, Mistral to the east, Vacuo in the west, and Vale in the relative geographic center of them all.

The Long Peace, a period lasting several hundred years. The peace being a relative term as while there were no major human or faunus conflicts, the Grimm threat still loomed.

'What's a faunus?' Charlie wondered. He flipped to the back of the book and searched through the glossary for the word.

'Ah, here it is. Faunus: a humanoid race who possess physical and behavioral animal traits. What?' He decided to ask.

"Hey Ruby, what's a faunus?"

While the red girl was making herself look busy by reviewing the few notes she had, she was actually watching Charlie out of the corner of her eye; slightly puzzled at the rate he was turning pages.

"A Faunus is uh, you know... those people with the animal features like extra ears, horns, or tails." Ruby stated.

"Is that... common?" Charlie slowly said.

"Faunus make up a significant minority of the total population." Blake answered from her place on the bed. She was looking up from her book now, eyes narrowed. "Are there no Faunus where you're from?"

"No. None at all. I mean, there are similar figures in mythology and popular culture but they don't actually exist."

"A whole world with no Grimm or Faunus. Wow, that's pretty weird..." Yang trailed off.

"Weird to you maybe." Charlie said simply and went back to reading.

The Great War, the cracks in the unity and solidarity of civilization began to show. Territory, trade, and ideological squabbles boiled over into the largest open war in recorded history. Only the forced removal of certain authority figures and mounting pressure from the creatures of Grimm put an end to it.

The Faunus Rights Revolution. In an incredible example of racism, various Human factions tried to force all the Faunus in the world into the confines of an island called Menagerie. A shorter bout of bloodshed compared to the conflict before it, the Faunus won their right to live wherever they desired. In the aftermath, a group called the White Fang formed as an advocacy group of sorts for Faunus. The book depressingly noted that they had since fallen from grace and become a known terrorist group as evidenced by the string of attacks committed under their name in recent years.

...And that was pretty much it. There were many small events, which Charlie did read, but those four were the most important sections that really stuck out to him. Especially the last two; they reminded him of Earth's own recent history. Another thing that stuck out to him was the book's constant references and allusions to those two strange terms again: 'Dust' and 'Aura'. The glossary didn't help much with that either; the definitions being rather vague.

He knew he was reading for quite some time, so when he looked up from his book he was surprised to find that the four girls were still in the room.

He checked the clock in the corner of his vision: 6:29. What. 'But I got in the room at around 6:10 and started reading shortly after... did I just read a history book cover to cover in just over fifteen minutes?'

He shut the book with an audible thud. "So, anyone care to fill me in on a couple things?"

"Sure, what's up?" Ruby responded.

"I know I probably should have asked this sooner, especially since you guys have mentioned it a few times already but... define 'Dust' and 'Aura'.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I mean what is this Dust and Aura? This book-" he pointed to the history book "referenced it multiple times, and so have you. So, what are they?"

"No, I know what you meant. What I mean is how could you not know what they are?" Ruby asked perplexed.

"Dust just means dust to me, like the dust in the air and what settles on rarely cleaned furniture. And Aura... the word aura can have certain controversial connotations where I'm from."

"Okay, wait." Yang chimed in "I can get not knowing about Aura. Not everybody actually even understands it's a thing here. But Dust?"

"Help me out here then? What is Dust?" Charlie said.

"Dust is... actually, Weiss would probably be the best person to explain it."

Charlie turned to the white haired girl with what would have been an expectant look on his face. That is, if he had a face capable of expression. She quirked an eyebrow and sighed.

"Dust," Weiss began "is a naturally occurring energy propellant." She went over to her bunk and stuck an arm under it, pulling out a white briefcase. "It was by utilizing Dust that humanity drove the Grimm back far enough to build civilization, as I'm sure that book said." She stated to which Charlie nodded. "Dust is found naturally in highly concentrated crystals which are then processed into a fine powder, or dust as its name implies."

As she was explaining, Weiss had set the briefcase onto the desk, opened and pulled out four glass vials filled with a brightly colored powder of some description; one a rich red, one a pale blue, one a lush green, and the last a vibrant yellow.

"There are four basic or primal varieties of Dust: Fire, Ice, Wind, and Lightning" Weiss pointed to the red, blue, green, and yellow vials respectively "which can be combined together in countless different ways by type and proportion to create innumerable effects."

"How do you use it? From the way the book seemed to allude to it, it sounds pretty powerful." Charlie said.

"You would be correct, it's extremely powerful. And using Dust can be both simple and complicated." Weiss explained. "You can get a reaction out of most varieties relatively easily; I could set something on fire by throwing this vial of Fire Dust hard enough at it. This is basically the method most people use in their everyday lives because it's the simple way. You see it happening everywhere, like cars combusting fuel mixtures to move or the firing pin in a gun striking a cartridge and igniting the Dust contained within. The bullet might even have Dust inside it as well, which will react upon impact.

"The other way to use Dust is the more complicated and far more elegant way: interfacing directly with Aura."

"An Aura, put simply, is an energy field generated by all living beings, except Grimm. A physical manifestation of willpower, or the reflection of the soul onto the material world as some would say. And one of the things that make Dust so interesting is how it can be activated by Aura."

"Now" she started "I could go on and on about how this happens and why it works, but I won't because class is starting soon and we still need to eat breakfast. I have a textbook about all this if you're really interested. Instead, I'll give you a demonstration."

Weiss picked up the yellow-filled vial and poured a pinch of the stuff into the palm of her left hand. "This is pure Lightning Dust. Observe." She pulled her hand back and cast the Dust away. The powder was airborne for a split second before being consumed by a bolt of electricity that flew out from her hand over two feet in front of her.

If he had a jaw, it would have dropped. "Holy hell. That was cool!"

Weiss had a little smirk on her face, which she quickly quashed back into a straight face. "Of course." She paused. "So, your world... you don't have Dust?"

"No, nothing of the sort." Charlie said.

"But Dust is what makes modern technology possible and you seem familiar with things like computers, firearms, robots, and everything else so I assume you had those things back home, right?"

"Well, yes."

"But without Dust... how?" Weiss asked, sounding baffled. "How does anything even work?"

"Well." Charlie assumed a thoughtful pose "Our cars run on gasoline and gunpowder is made of various different compounds."

"What the heck is gasoline?" Yang interrupted.

"It's a fuel derived from oil we extract from the ground." Charlie said. "And there's diesel too, which is made from much of the same stuff. Mostly."

"But in robotics..." he raised a hand in front of his face and flexed his fingers "something like this would be a novelty. I've heard of people building things like this" he gestured to his whole body "back home, but they're mostly one of a kind or experimental and nowhere near ready for mass production."

"I wonder what other differences there are between Remnant and Earth." Ruby thought aloud. "Wait, it is Earth right? That's what I heard when we talked with Ozpin."

"Yes Ruby, my world is called Earth." Charlie confirmed.

"Isn't that just another word for dirt? Weiss asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but it's accurate. Besides, what about Remnant? That name's a little morbid considering the history."

"A fair point."

"Mmhmm. Anyway, shouldn't you four be going now? It's nearly a quarter to seven."

"Wait, what?" Yang said. "Aha! Not this time!" The blonde proceeded to power walk out of the room.

"Uh... okay." Charlie looked around at the three remaining girls "Do I want to know?"

"She missed breakfast the last few days." Blake helpfully explained.

"Ah, I see. You three better run along then. Let's continue this chat later. The Headmaster said he wanted a report right? I can give you a rundown on most everything about the Earth, so that should help."

"Okay, we'll see you later. Try not to wander around too much, alright?"

"Don't worry about that Ruby. I'll just stay in here and read or something."

"Okay, good." Ruby happily replied. "Oh and one more thing. When I come back later this afternoon -probably around fourish- you wanna go to the practice rooms?"

"What, like battle practice?"

"Yeah. I wanna see if you can handle it."

"I don't see why not. What's there exactly? Close combat? Shooting range?"

"All of the above!"

"Alright, cool. I'll see y'all soon then."

The three girls waved goodbye on their way out the door, which quietly clicked shut behind them as they left. Charlie, seeing as he had over nine hours to burn, went back to looking for books. He was browsing the shelves near Blake's bunk when he noticed a book tucked away with its spine facing inward. Partly to make the shelf look better and partly out of curiosity, Charlie took out the book and read its title.

"Ninjas of Love? Hmm..." he flipped through the first few pages with his newfound speed reading.

"Oh my, how... lewd." Charlie glanced around the room and specially noted that the door was locked.

He continued reading.

* * *

><p>"You know for a school training fighters, it's awfully quiet here."<p>

"It gets busy later in the evening. Most of the newer students are still in class and all the older ones are usually in another hall or doing something else."

"I see."

Unlike many of the buildings at Beacon, the "Freshman Sparring Hall" was large, sparsely detailed, and distinctly utilitarian. It had a vaulted ceiling, but not as high as the library's. The floor was a gray, resin, tiled pattern and the walls a smooth, stark white plaster. The wall to their right -the north side- was spaced with several wide windows beyond which was the familiar lane arrangement of a firing range. On the corner of the west wall straight ahead of them there was a tall, narrow, overhead door. The only distinctive feature about it was a small control panel set into the wall right next to it.

Ruby led him towards a sliding door to enter the range. When the door slid smoothly closed behind them, they were met by the deafening silence of an enclosed space; only disrupted by the steady but easily ignored hum of an air conditioner. To his immediate right there was a screen that prominently declared "Loaners (touch to begin)". Ruby touched the screen which immediately lit up and asked to see a Scroll for identification. She promptly did so, waving the device in front of a scanner right next to it.

"Welcome. Make a selection now." The screen texted out.

The screen displayed two boxes: on the left "Combinations" and on the right "Firearms".

"What's it mean combinations?" Charlie inquired

"Those are the weapons that combine guns and melee weapons, like my scythe." Ruby explained.

"Ah, okay." He acceded and pressed the right box. "I guess that's another difference between Earth and Remnant. The closest thing we'd have would be sticking a knife to the end of a rifle."

"It makes sense. To use one you'd need to use your Aura to be effective. And no Aura users on Earth I'm guessing?" She said.

"That's exactly right, as far as I know."

"Weird."

Turning his attention back to the screen, three new buttons appeared: "Pistols", "Rifles", and "Shotguns".

'I think I'll start small.' He thought and pressed Pistols. "So Ruby, I don't know anything about the guns of this world. Any recommendations?"

"Umm... you can't go wrong with what the police use." Ruby brought up a search filter menu and checked the boxes "Large Frame" and "Semi-Automatic". The first result that came up was just a short string of letters and numbers: IKF P35.

"IKF P35?"

"Inter-Kingdom Fabrication, Pistol, thirty-five caliber." Ruby recited then blinked at Charlie's stare "What? I read a lot of weapon magazines."

"Hah, magazine." He pressed the prompt and a mechanical whirring sound started inside the walls. A few seconds passed and an inconspicuous seam parted. Out of the wall on a rack came a... gray and red, boxy, ungainly looking thing in the shape of a handgun.

"Jesus Christ it's huge." He picked it up and looked it over. "What are the tubes for?"

"There's a compartment in the back you can fill with Dust. See that switch in the rear? If you flip it it'll feed whatever Dust you have into the chamber and give your next shot an elemental punch."

Sure enough, there it was. "It's not already filled is it?"

"No, you have to bring your own Dust. I didn't bring any." Ruby shrugged.

"Oh well. Speaking of that, where do I get ammo?"

The girl pointed to just below the rack pistol arrived on. A tray was sticking out of the wall with a small plastic box and what appeared to be an extra magazine.

"Alright just pick a lane and let's start loading the magazines."

Charlie collected the box and spare mag and stepped up to the nearest lane. He fumbled around on the handgun for the magazine release, which was quite ergonomically located behind the mag well. "Hey, what's the cap on the- oh wait never mind." He answered his own question when he saw '20 RND' etched into the bottom of the magazine. He unlatched the lid of the plastic container and found forty brass circles arranged in four rows of ten. Pulling one up confirmed his thoughts: a straight-cased, brass gun cartridge with a sharply pointed, copper-coated bullet. The whole thing was about an inch and a half from base to tip by his estimate.

Ruby quietly slid the box of ammunition closer to her and began to load the spare magazine.

After another minute they finished and the girl took out her Scroll. "Alright, let's start with something easy. Ten yards." A tall rectangle with a circle target in the center slid up from the floor at the ten yard mark.

Charlie slapped a magazine into his loaned pistol, racked the slide, and took up a stance; left leg forward and slightly bent, right leg back, right arm extended with the left hand wrapped around the right one, elbow pointed down.

A by-the-book Weaver Stance; familiar to him and well practiced.

He sighted his target and squeezed off a shot. The loud crack was accompanied by shockingly little recoil, which surprised him considering the size of the round. He wrote it off as a result of the monstrously large handgun and his metal frame. 'Good news at least.' He thought mirthfully and fired off another four times.

"Pretty solid. Half-inch groups, not bad." Ruby complimented on his left, eyes on her Scroll.

"The target's linked up to that? Nice." Charlie glanced back.

"Yep."

"Wait, shouldn't you be wearing earmuffs or something?" He asked slightly concerned.

"Don't worry, I got my Aura, remember?" She assured.

"I don't see how a natural energy field helps." The machine stated. "Unless it does things other than activate Dust."

"An Aura can also be used as a shield, to heal wounds, and to boost a user's strength."

"What really? Wow, that is useful." Charlie said. "Set the target out to twenty-five yards, if you could."

Ruby answered his request by dropping the ten yard target back into the floor and raising a new one at the twenty-five yard mark.

"Wait," she said between his shots "I thought you spent all day reading?"

"I did." He punctuated with a gunshot.

"But not about Aura?"

"Nope."

"More history?"

"Some but no, mostly... fiction."

"Like what?"

"Uh. Hmm. How old are you Ruby?"

"...Fifteen?"

"Oh, uh, I see." Charlie emptied the rest of the magazine into the target. "Let's just say Blake has some... interesting books on the shelf near her bunk." He changed mags "Fifty yards if you would please."

"O-okay" Ruby stumbled and changed the targets. Charlie took aim and rapidly dumped twenty rounds down range in four seconds flat.

"Your groups are just over one inch. Really good shooting." Ruby said sounding a little impressed.

"A-thank you. I try." Charlie said dramatically taking a little bow.

She smiled and let out a short giggle. "Let's get you something a little bigger."

He returned the pistol, magazines, and ammo box to the rack and tray respectively which then receded back into the wall at the hit of a button. "Okay Ruby, know any good rifles?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Automatic, thirty rounds or more."

"There's a lot of those. Any of the military issue stuff would fit that description." Ruby said.

"Ah, good. That was my intention."

Charlie lazily browsed through the menus until he clicked a random entry in the catalog. Something called an SGW T-67, apparently. He opened the full description and a few details caught his eye: first the caliber marked as .264 which was always interesting, second and far more interestingly was the name of the manufacturer: SGW or _Schnee_ Gun Works. 'Funny, I just recently met a Schnee. I wonder if there's any relation.'

He made his selection and retrieved the rifle from the rack; white and black polymers and still boxy but narrow, finely built and easy handling. The tray under the rack dispensed a spare magazine like before but three plastic ammunition boxes came with it this time. He carried it all back to the counter by his firing lane. Popping open the three ammo boxes, which had twenty rounds in each, he diligently loaded the rifle's magazine with the short, fat, cartridges it was chambered in; Ruby once again assisting him by loading the other one to speed the process.

They finished quickly and Charlie slammed a magazine home "How far's the range go?"

"A hundred yards." Ruby stated matter-of-factly. "You wanna go all the way?"

"Definitely. Shame it's a little too short for challenging rifle work."

"Mmhmm, that's why I usually practice outside."

He cycled the charging handle. "Then why'd we come here?"

"'Cause you're not just shooting today. We're going to practice melee later too!"

"Oh. Sounds, fun."

He took aim and gratefully noted how the aperture sights were pre-adjusted for the hundred yard range. As expected for a weapon of its kind. It became a simple matter of lining up the aperture with the center of the target and squeezing the trigger. The gunshot was louder and more vicious sounding then the pistol, but again this was to be expected of a rifle.

"Bullseye." Ruby reported.

Charlie continued firing the rifle, scoring accurate hits even when he depressed the trigger and emptied the weapon in a fully automatic spray. 'Being a machine is kind of nice.' He thought. 'No breathing or shake to mess my aim, just point and shoot.' Fluidly changing magazines, he dumped the next thirty rounds in a single, well aimed, burst of fire.

"One and a quarter inch groups again! You're pretty good at this!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Thanks Ruby. This metal body keeps my aim nice and stable it seems. I've never shot this good before." Charlie said.

"You have experience?"

"Just a lot of time on ranges like this. The full auto is new to me though; I think I did pretty well on a first attempt."

"Yeah you seem to have a pretty good handle on it. I thinks it's time to move on to melee." She said with a smile that was far too enthusiastic for his liking.

"This is gonna hurt, isn't it?" He said hesitantly.

"I don't know. Do you even have pain sensors?"

"I suppose we're about to find out."

They stowed the rifle and its supplies back into the weapon dispenser and moved back into the training hall. Ruby sauntered off to the overhead door on the other end of the room and waved her Scroll in front of the control panel there. A floor plate near him retracted and raised a rack full of close combat weapons: swords, spears, a few shields, axes, daggers, hammers, clubs, maces, flails, and every other implement under the sun designed to cut, stab, bash, or smash at an arms length away.

At the other corner of the room, the overhead door rolled up into the ceiling and from beyond it clunked in a robot much like himself except painted a field gray and its 'eyes' lit up in a fluorescent blue. It marched over with a mechanical precision and picked up a black hilted, two-handed, double-edged sword with a cross guard. It walked to the center of the other half of the room and stood at attention.

"Well what are you waiting for? Pick a weapon!" Ruby yelled out from the far corner of the hall.

He looked over the selection, trying to find something he could use with confidence. The flails were definitely out, same with the daggers. An axe or club seemed simple enough to use, as with a hammer or spear. But for some reason he found himself gravitating towards the swords.

There was quite a variety. Martial looking longswords, elegant rapiers, dramatically curved sabres, and variants in between but with the first one he picked up, he instantly made his choice.

It was a shorter weapon than most; a thirty-inch, single-edged, straight-bladed affair with a broad, gently curving end. Like a machete, or a medieval falchion. The blade had a matte black finish and a simple knuckle guard. He gave it a few experimental swings and found it to be surprisingly light, although whether that was due to the materials used or the strength of his body he couldn't say.

He took up position opposite of his opponent and readied his weapon.

"Ready?" She queried.

"Ready." He confirmed.

"If you're nervous don't worry about it. These guys are easy."

"Just start it up Ruby."

"Alright... begin!"

As soon as the last syllable escaped her lips, the enemy machine took its sword in a two-handed grip and charged. Without slowing, it brought its weapon down in a savage diagonal slash as soon as it came in range and swiftly followed up with a powerful thrust.

Charlie managed to raise his own sword to block the strike and instinctively sidestepped out of the way. 'Whoa.'

The gray bot slowed and spun around to face him. It re-approached in a slower, more deliberate walk this time; its sword held in front of it in a ready guard.

'Okay, think. How can I kill the bastard easily?' He internally wondered. 'I could try some weir- wait. Aren't I made of metal? What's a sword gonna do?'

Suppressing the urge to facepalm, Charlie brought his left arm out and closed the distance to his opponent with the intent on letting the limb catch the blade. The enemy bot brought its sword up in preparation for a powerful swing. 'Ah screw this!' Charlie chickened out at the last second and jumped back.

His opponent however, fully committed to the strike and swung its sword hard enough to bite into the floor tile. Without thinking, Charlie stepped back in and brought his steel foot down onto the weapon in an attempt to pin it to the ground.

It worked.

His opponent android was unable to pull its weapon away and was in the process of letting go when Charlie took his sword in two hands and decapitated the machine with a horizontal chop.

The head bounced and rolled a few feet and the rest of the body went limp. Charlie stood and relaxed. "Well, that was easier than I thought."

"See, what I tell you?" Ruby walked over and picked up the head. "It's pretty straight forward. And realistic too; most common Grimm are just as dumb and aggressive."

"I doubt they're all this easy though, huh? Otherwise why would you need special people to fight them." Charlie remarked.

"Exactly!" Ruby beamed. "Can you help me carry the body?" She motioned to headless robot.

If he could crack a smile he would have. "You know, out of context that would sound terrible."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You know what I mean. Just come on."

Ruby rested the head on the thing's chest and they carried the body off to a corner of the room. "So, what now?" Charlie asked, dropping the machine with a muffled thump.

"You seem decent enough with a sword but you need practice. I also noticed you try to use your arm to block, which makes sense cause you're you know, metal." Ruby said. "But if you want to get the most out of that tactic, you'll need to learn to use your Aura as a shield."

"Okay, how can I do that?"

"I'm gonna have to hit you!" She proclaimed and ran off to the fallen robot's sword. She pulled it out of the floor "Don't freak out. Just focus on blocking and your Aura should come to protect you."

"Alright, sounds easy enough." Charlie stated in confidence.

Ruby simply grinned and backed up a few steps, bringing the sword into a ready position. "Ready?"

"Ready."

She ran two steps forward before she disappeared into a red blur that shot straight towards him at an incredible speed. The only thing he could do was bring an arm up in an effort to defend himself. As the red blur passed him, he felt a force strike his arm and saw a brief flash of green light. A metallic snap was heard followed by a ping bouncing off the wall.

Lowering his arms, he turned to track the red blur which had slowed down enough to make out Ruby's form. The girl tried to decelerate before she ran into the wall but couldn't so she hopped and kicked off the wall instead, flipping several times through the air and landing gracefully; the sword she picked up broken in half and strangely enough, rose petals floated in her wake.

"Holy frik frak Ruby! That was amazing!" Charlie shouted, stunned at what just happened. "You just turned into the Flash or something! What was that?"

"Thank you." Ruby said, not quite understanding the reference. "That, was my Semblance."

"Semblance?" Charlie questioned. "Is that like some kind of superpower?"

"That's one way to look at it." Ruby agreed. "A Semblance is a special ability that's mostly unique to everyone... it's kinda like a more advanced way to use your Aura."

"So yours is speed I'm guessing?"

"Yep."

"Wow, cool! Hey but wait, what's up with the rose petals?"

"I don't know. Apparently I inherited it from my Mom..." She trailed off, eyes becoming distant.

Now, Charlie did not consider himself a master at reading body language but even he could recognize the outward sign of a sore subject. 'Try not to pry then.' He thought. "Well, it matches your name Ruby Rose."

The girl shook off her momentary disillusionment with a literal shake of her head. "Yeah, yeah it does."

"So, does everyone here at Beacon have a cool power?" He asked, attempting to redirect the conversation.

"Most of us do. We're future Huntsmen and Huntresses after all." She said, skipping back into cheerfulness.

"What kind of powers does your team have?"

"Weiss can make these glyph things." Ruby stated "They're like platforms or walls that look like snowflakes."

"What can she do with them?" Charlie asked, sounding intrigued.

"During our initiation, with her help I ran up the face of a cliff."

"Wow."

"Oh, and I was dragging a Nevermore by the neck with my scythe too."

"...Nevermore?"

"A big flying Grimm that kinda looks like a raven. This one was about the size of small plane."

"Damn! You serious?"

"Yeah. Later if you want I have a recording of that moment if you wanna see." Ruby offered.

"I'd like that, cause that sounds badass!" Charlie declared. "What about Blake?"

"Blake's Semblance? She can make clones of herself." She explained. "They can't go very far from her or they'll disappear, but she uses them to make decoys that can take hits for her."

"Strange but cool. And what about Yang?"

"My sister's Semblance has to do with her strength. The more hits she takes the harder she can hit back. And she's already really strong."

"So she's like a living battery?" Charlie said. "She absorbs energy and then throws it back out."

"Basically, yeah. She's scary when she's mad though. Try not to make her angry." Ruby warned.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said. "How does one go about getting a Semblance anyway?"

"You need to discover it by training. Just keep practicing with your Aura and you'll find it eventually." Ruby said.

Charlie hummed "Then what are we standing around for? Let's get back to it."

He ran over and picked up his dropped sword and readied himself. "Unleash the bots Ruby!"

"You sure seem eager!" Ruby laughed.

"You're darn right I am! I want a superpower!" Charlie replied with enthusiasm. "Send more than one this time."

"Alright! How 'bout four?" She suggested.

"Bring it on!"

"Okay..!" Ruby input the appropriate commands into her Scroll for four training androids. Moments later, four gray, humanoid machines marched into the hall. In unison they went to the weapon rack and made their choice: a longsword and shield, a spear, a two-handed axe, and a sabre. The four of them went to the center of the room and stood at the ready.

"Are you sure about this Charlie?" Ruby asked concerned.

"I'll try to be fine. Besides, if I can't take it you can always jump in." Charlie assured.

"Alright. Match begins in five." He clenched the handle of his weapon and stared into the azure optics of his opponents. The seconds ticked by then suddenly, the gray quadruplet burst into motion. The spear bearer sprinted in first with the intent of running him through. Charlie was fully ready for the spear point to impact him and let his Aura protect him, but a strange thought buzzed into his mind.

_Duck and Disable._

His body seemingly moved on its own. On pure instinct he ducked under the oncoming weapon and brought his sword in an upward slash; severing the android's leg at the knee.

_Block and Thrust._

Without skipping a beat, Charlie brought his left arm up to block a strike from the axe wielder who had followed behind the spearman. His forearm caught the weapon on the haft just under the axe head; the limb lit up with a vivid green and the axe was a noticeable inch or so from actually physically contacting him.

Even though the sword he picked was designed for chopping and slashing with its wide end, its point was still very usable for a stab. Charlie plunged the blade into the robot's chest hilt deep, half surprised the blade could even punch through metal. The thing stared at him for a second before its blue optics faded and its body went limp.

He shook his sword out of the ruined unit and in his moment of vulnerability the shield equipped machine dashed in and slammed into him with it. Charlie fell onto his back in a light daze, but still had the awareness to roll out of the way of the incoming sword which shattered the tile it struck. He jumped to his feet and held his sword, which he luckily hadn't dropped, out in a guard position to ward off any more potential attacks.

It was in this exact moment the sabre wielder made its presence known by launching a flurry of cuts and thrusts at his flank. Charlie only just barely managed to deflect a few of them but most of the strikes got through his guard and bit into his Aura. He dashed away in an attempt to keep his distance between his two remaining opponents and get a second to think.

'I can't go after Shield guy. Any time spent trying to get around its guard would leave me open to Sabre, not to mention Shield's sword as well...'

Primary Soft High Damage Target.

'...yes, if I can take Sabre out of the fight I'll be able to outlast Shield.' He thought.

Charlie brought his eyes up and found the Sabre unit advancing steadily toward him. Deciding to abuse his Aura shield to the fullest, he ran shoulder first into the android. It got a few good hits in as it fell to the ground; a few glanced off his Aura but the last definitely left a scratch in his paint. He hacked the offending limb off at the shoulder with a couple of savage strokes.

He straightened up and was once again bashed by the Shield unit. Charlie was prepared for this however and did not fall over this time, instead delivering a swift counter which was deftly blocked by a very obtrusively positioned shield. The gray painted machine snapped its sword forth and delivered a deep cut on his left arm at the elbow joint; the forearm down now dangling by a few wires.

He stared at his disabled limb for a moment then, much more calmly than he thought he was capable of considering the circumstances, kicked his opponent's shield hard enough to knock it out of the way. Charlie's threw a punch aimed at the android's head; the knuckle guard on his sword leaving a sizable dent in its faceplate and smashing an optic. It backed up, trying to regain its bearings. Charlie pressed his advantage however, and sunk the blade of his sword in the top of its head, splitting it down the middle.

The android's remaining optic faded and the whole machine dropped to its knees and face-planted. The sword embedded in its head case dislodging itself upon striking the floor.

"Oh my god! Charlie!" Ruby ran over, concern written on her face. "Are you okay?"

Charlie swung his hanging forearm lightly, snapping the last strand of cable holding it together and sending the appendage to the ground. "Well, it doesn't hurt. So I've got that going for me."

"But you're fine right? You're not about to... shut down or anything?"

"I can't exactly bleed out, so no, I think I'll be fine." He then let out a hearty laugh. "'Tis but a flesh wound!'"

Ruby didn't respond verbally to his admittedly ill timed cultural reference but instead bent down and picked up his fallen limb. "C'mon, let's get this back on you." She wrapped an arm around him and tried to lead him to the door but Charlie didn't budge. "Don't we have to clean this up?" He gestured to all the wrecked machines.

"Oh. Right. But, your arm..?" She waved the severed limb around as emphasis.

"Bah, I still got one good arm and ain't in immediate danger. Let's get this done; I'll feel bad if we leave this mess for the next person."

"But... arm! I'm sure they'll let it slide just this once."

"Ruby, don't be a bad citizen."

"Ugh, but I hate cleaning." She groaned.

"Someone has to do it." Charlie reasoned. "C'mon it won't take long." He left no room for argument by picking up his discarded sword and walking back to the rack and putting it away.

"Fine." Ruby sighed and dropped his arm to free up her hands.

Working together, it only took them roughly ten minutes to restore the area back into a relatively pristine condition. The only things that marred it were the robotic bodies stacked like firewood in the corner and a few shattered tiles.

"Okay," Ruby announced "now we can go." The girl once again scooped up her mechanical companion's arm "I'll need to stop by storage and pick up all the things I need to fix your arm. Just head back up to the dorm and wait for me there."

"Alrighty then," the two of them walked out of the hall together "but I don't have a key or anything."

"Don't worry about it, Weiss should already be there to let you in."

"Ah. Well, I guess I'll see you soon then." He waved his stub in farewell and walked off.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Weiss was not already in the dorm room. That or he was being ignored. Charlie had knocked several times on the door and had gotten no answer so he resigned himself to waiting for someone to show up and let him in.<p>

He stood there leaning against the door, doing his best to cross his remaining arm with his stub, for several minutes before he heard voices coming around the corner.

"...-aster has us doing an... extra assignment."

"Oh, I see. May I ask what that would be?"

"Yes, our team has to watch over and write a report, which I'll probably end up doing alone, about the robot Ruby has been working on."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"The thing is, it's not just a robot. Ruby has somehow managed to- and there he is." Weiss Schnee rounded the corner with a binder held to her chest and another girl at her side.

She was taller than Weiss by almost a head and wearing the standard school uniform with black stockings. She had bright red hair done up in a waist length ponytail and a bronze headpiece of sorts peeking out from under her bangs.

'Either the people here have a penchant for hair dye or some odd genetics.' Charlie thought to himself.

The pair drew closer and he noticed her brilliant green eyes... and Weiss's unhappy scowl.

"Oh good grief, what did that dunce do to you?" She said, eyeing his conspicuously missing arm.

"It was my fault, I went a little overboard in the training hall. Ruby ran off to go find some things to fix up the arm." Charlie said with a shrug.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, shut her light blue eyes, and sighed explosively.

"Anywho, who's your friend?" He tipped his head in the redhead's direction.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos." The redhead introduced simply and clearly.

"Nice to meet you Pyrrha, I'm Charles Flater; just call me Charlie." He stuck his hand out for a shake.

The girl reached for his hand with an amused smile, which turned to a look of bewilderment when they gripped each other and shook.

"That's... huh."

"What is it?" Weiss asked her.

"Nothing, it's just... I thought I felt an Aura."

"That's because I do have one, apparently." Charlie explained.

"What?" Pyrrha gave him a curious look. "How is that possible?"

"As I was about to say, the machine Ruby has been working on has somehow managed to get a soul." Weiss said.

"Hey, you make it sound like I was an accident. I was given a choice to animate this thing." Charlie added.

Pyrrha slowly cocked her head to the side; her mouth opening in shock. "That's... that's incredible!" She laughed and straightened out. "Were you something before becoming this?"

"Yeah, I WAS human. Not from Remnant either but another world called Earth."

She cast widened eyes at Charlie, then at Weiss. "As you can see, I'll have a lot to write about." The white haired girl deadpanned.

"I'm sure." Pyrrha agreed, still looking a bit shocked. "I'll let you two get at that. If you'll excuse me, I have to meet up with the rest of my team soon. If you could tell me more later, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course. I'll see you later, Pyrrha."

"Yes, see you Weiss." The redhead waved a Scroll over the door directly opposite of their dorm's lock and disappeared inside.

Weiss motioned for Charlie to move out of the way so she could do the same. "You know, she had far less questions than I would have thought." He stated.

"It's just how she is." Weiss replied "She probably thinks I have everything under control, so she saw no reason to say anything else. Besides, she's from Mistral."

Charlie hummed in agreement, recalling one of the history books he read today mentioning how Mistralian culture was comparatively spiritual to the rest of the world, as he followed Weiss into the room and shut the door behind them. The girl settled onto her bunk and opened the binder she was carrying.

"Alright. Let's get some of this done while it's quiet." She said, flipping through papers.

"Ah, we're doing the report now?"

"I see no reason not to."

"Very well." He pulled up a chair. "What do you wanna know?"

She stopped turning pages and pulled out a pencil and wrote a few words down. "What did you say your name was back there? Charles Flater? Why'd you introduce yourself as Charlie?"

"I'm comfortable with it. It's less formal than my proper name. I guess I used it first with you guys because I just fell back on habit."

"I see." She scribbled a note. "How old you?"

"I just turned twenty about a month ago."

She nodded and jotted down two digits. "Okay, now... tell me about yourself."

"You wanna know my life story?"

Weiss nodded. "We can start there."

"Hmm, where to begin..." Charlie mused.

"The beginning, preferably."

"Alright. If you have a question just stop me." He said to which Weiss nodded in acknowledgement.

"I... was born in northern California, near Stockton on September sixteenth, 1994, to Adalyn and Brysen Flater. I have a sister, four years my senior named Delilah." Charlie said, realizing a second later much of that information was useless without context.

Weiss looked up from her paper. "Is California a kingdom?"

"Err, no. It's a state, which are kinda like districts or provinces, within a nation called the United States of America; U.S.A. or U.S. for short."

"You've mentioned America before."

"It's the continent the country got its name from."

"Okay." She scribbled a note down. "Physical description. What did you look like before this?"

"Fairly plain. Five-eleven, whitish skin, short brown hair and brown eyes."

As Weiss was writing down the information, Charlie continued. "Right, on with the life summary. I had a decent childhood. We weren't rich but we weren't poor either; solid middle class. My mom basically raised my sister and I herself because my dad was in the army so he wasn't around very often. But, they were good days when he was home."

"I had a pretty normal life up until about five years ago. I went to school, had friends, you know, normalcy. But, of course that's when we got the knock at the door..."

Charlie looked up from the floor and back at Weiss, who gestured for him to continue. "It was a man, in military uniform. The official bearer of bad news. 'We express our deepest condolences' and all that. My father was killed in a roadside bombing, they said. Naturally, my mom didn't take that very well. She spiralled into depression and got into a car accident not two months after. She died in the hospital a day later."

"So, I was alone; I didn't have my sister because she was in college down south. Thankfully, my parents planned for this in case anything happened to them. A family friend, basically an uncle, became my legal guardian. He was to take care of me until I came of age and even then, I still lived with him and worked for him up until my untimely... expiration."

'I wonder how they're doing.' He thought. 'Hopefully news of my demise hasn't hit them too hard.'

"That's pretty much it." Charlie concluded. "I didn't get the chance to do anything spectacular with my life. I suppose it ended early though, so my adult life never really began. Anyway, enough talk about me. Can we change the subject?"

"Sure." Weiss nodded in understanding. "You said-" she didn't get to finish her sentence as Ruby chose that exact moment to burst into the room. Both occupants turned to look at the red cloaked girl's dynamic entry.

"I have your arm!" She waved his missing appendage around. "And stuff to reattach it!" She held up a toolbox.

"That's... great Ruby, thank you."

"We'll finish this another time." Weiss closed her binder.

"Oooo what'd I miss?"

"Nothing much. We were just getting started on that report the headmaster wants." Charlie answered.

"Oh yeah. We still have to do that..."

"Don't tell me you forgot already!" Weiss berated.

"No! I just... wasn't thinking about it!"

The white haired girl facepalmed.

"You know, it's rather difficult to do certain gestures with only one arm." Charlie thought out loud. "Lacing your fingers, clapping..."

"Yeah, I know. Your arm. I think I'll need you to be powered off when I reattach it."

"Alright. Ready and waiting."

Ruby jogged up behind him, dropped the toolbox, and flipped open a panel on his back which revealed his power button. She pressed and held it down until the lights all over him dimmed and faded. His now limp body began to slump in the chair but Ruby quickly wrapped an arm around him and sat him up straight.

She opened the toolbox and picked out a screwdriver and started removing the screws holding the rest of his arm on; she would need to take it apart and replace the severed wires. As Ruby worked, she wondered what it was like to have your body turned off.

'He should be fine, right?' She thought. 'It's not like he's dead or anything...'

The realization struck her like a truck. Her hands immediately went back to the power button but there was no response. On the verge of panic, Ruby ran over to the desk in the corner of the room and picked up the AK-130T owner's manual from where she last left it. She skipped to the section detailing repairs and found the oh so helpfully bolded, capitalized, and underlined note: **UNIT WILL NOT START UNLESS ALL CORE SYSTEMS, MANIPULATION SYSTEMS, AND LOCOMOTION SYSTEMS ARE INSTALLED.**

"Oh, okay." She sighed in relief. "I just need to put the arm back on."

"What happened?" Weiss inquired.

"Nothing, nothing. Just got freaked out over nothing." Ruby answered. The girl went back to Charlie, sitting down on the floor nearby and continued stripping the damaged parts down. Her hands moved at a more hurried pace; determined to bring the machine back online as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>The world around him went dark and he expected to be once again confronted by something similar to the timer that greeted him when he went to 'sleep' the night before. What he found in front of him instead however, was the emerald wall with its many gem-like facets. He once again admired the beauty of the pristine surface.<p>

He wasn't sure how long he was looking; keeping time in these... places was understandably difficult. The thing that broke him from his trance however, was a knocking. A steady pattern of knocking. Like someone knocking on a stranger's door; firm but polite and not annoying. It was coming from in front of him.

"But it's not like there's a door... Oh?" Looking just a few degrees down he found a brass doorknob. It looked extremely out of place on the gemstone surface and quite frankly, ridiculous. So, he did the logical thing he thought any person in his position would do. He turned it and pulled. The surface, now door, opened inward riding on invisible hinges and standing just beyond it was... a thing.

The first thing he noticed about it was its iridescence. It changed colors in waves and ripples, shifting through every possibility on the visible spectrum and a few that weren't. How do you describe a color that isn't possible?

The next thing was that it was humanoid in shape. It had legs, arms, head, and a torso all clearly and distinctly visible but featureless. Taking this together, an iridescent, humanoid silhouette stood before him in a doorway to a room (he looked around realizing he was free to do so and confirming, yes he was indeed in a chamber of some kind) seemingly made of green gemstone.

'I'm not on acid, am I?' Came to mind.

The silhouette raised a hand in greeting. "I wish to do you no harm. May I enter?" It said in a surprisingly normal voice. The sound of it could have been either masculine or feminine.

"Uh... Sure?"

Charlie moved aside and allowed the being inside. It stepped purposefully; its gait full of confidence, it seemed sure of itself as it panned its head around and inspected the square chamber that they were in.

"Do you know what this place is, Charles?" It suddenly spoke up, turned and faced him.

"No, I don't." He responded. "Hey! How do know my name!?"

"I have been watching you for a long time now." It said. "And this place is the inside of a Vessel Gem."

"Uh... what?"

"Exquisitely crafted too. The margins for error on these are very small." It said almost to itself before focusing back on him. "Which only makes the implications more disturbing."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"What I'm talking about is the nature of your arrival and current physical existence."

"You... you're not that thing that brought me here are you?" Charlie tried.

"No." It said firmly. "I and those like me would however, like to know who or what did this to you."

"Well. I'm just as lost as you then."

"So it would seem." The being said and made its way back to the doorway. "Nevertheless, I need to speak to you and your new friends. But not now; you are about to be resuscitated. I will visit you all sometime soon. Until then."

With that, the door slammed shut and darkness took his vision.

* * *

><p>Ruby watched in trepidation as Charlie powered up. As soon as the optics flared to life she spoke in rapid-fire. "Oh my goodness Charlie! Are you okay? Your not hurt are you? It's still you in there right? I'm sorry-"<p>

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ruby calm down! What's wrong?" Charlie vocalized.

"You're okay!" She cheered. "After I turned you off I had this crazy thought I might have killed you or something."

"What? Oh. Well, don't worry I was fine."

"Were you still aware while you were off?" Weiss asked, still sitting on her bunk.

Charlie turned his head to face her. "Yeah, I was in this weird room made of green gemstone or crystal." He turned back and looked at Ruby. "Why am I on the floor?"

"Uh... it was easier to work on you laying on your back?" She said. In reality she had accidentally pushed him out of his chair when she was reattaching the arm.

"Ah." He accepted that and clambered onto his feet. "When I was in that green room... I wasn't alone."

"There was someone else with you?" Ruby asked.

"There was something else with me. I... don't know what it was. But, it said it needed to talk to us."

"Did it say why? Or when?" Weiss questioned.

"It didn't give a reason." Charlie crossed his arms. "Or a time. It only said 'sometime soon', so who knows when that is."

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other. "Didn't you say something gave you the chance to be put in this robot?" Weiss said.

"Yeah I did, and I already asked the thing I just saw about that. It wasn't the one that did this to me." Charlie answered. "In fact, I think it was just as interested in finding out how this happened as we are."

The statement hung in the air for a moment before Weiss wordlessly reopened her binder and wrote down a note. Charlie was slightly curious at what she could have possibly written down but decided not to raise the issue.

'Just what was that thing?' He contemplated internally. The questions were accumulating and he was fresh out of concrete answers. He could always speculate, but blind guessing tended to build unnecessary fear and paranoia. 'No use worrying about it now. Whatever it was, well, one thing at a time...'

'Yes, one thing at a time.'

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Hello, yes I am back. No, chapter three is not done. I originally wanted to upload both chapters together but after some thought and changes in the draft I changed my mind. First, a few things: I base Yang's comment about Aura on RWBY Volume 1 Episode 6 namely how Jaune was clueless about it. I believe it is safe to assume if a descendant of someone who fought in the War didn't know about Aura then it is likely many others also wouldn't. I liken it to the Force in Star Wars if that helps you understand my reasoning. The comment near the end of the chapter about Pyrrha, Mistral and its culture I based solely on Pyrrha's monologue from the same episode. Thinking about the implications gave me a few ideas. We'll see.<strong>

**The .264 caliber and the "short, fat, cartridges" remark are a reference to the real 6.5mm Grendel **

**Also, does anyone know if Dust is found naturally as powder? I get the feeling it's mined as a crystal only but I could be wrong.**

**I worked on this chapter over the course of over two months on a smartphone. Please don't expect the next update to come anytime soon.**

**Comments, criticism, and suggestions are always welcome. Seriously though, suggestions would be nice. I need some ideas for 'fluffy' moments.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ozpin sat alone in his office. A flat, holographic display hovered over his desk displaying the feed of one of many, many cameras scattered throughout Beacon and its surrounding grounds. This one in particular was situated in the Emerald Forest, which bordered the Academy to the east.

The forest was often used as a location for live-fire training for his students. Today, several freshman teams had been assigned a simple fetch mission: locate a marked luggage trunk in their assigned sector and bring it back to a designated pickup point before sunset. The containers had been launched into the forest via pneumatic cannon; their trajectories painstakingly calculated and plotted.

The exercise was simple enough. The only complication was the forest's native population of Grimm. The quality of the average Beacon student however, ensured that the young and comparatively soft creatures that inhabited the forest only presented a minor obstacle.

On the screen, Ozpin watched as a bush rustled and out of it strode a black figure; an eye slit on its face plate and various points on its body glowing an electric green. Its torso was wrapped up in a load bearing vest carrying a quantity of spare magazines for the rifle it held loosely in its right hand.

Ah, yes. Charlie Flater. The machine with a soul. Built by one of his most promising new students, Ruby Rose. The young girl he had invited into his school after witnessing her almost single-handedly thwart an attempted store robbery. 'First that now this.' Ozpin mused. He had a feeling that girl was going to become a magnet for trouble. Or, more likely, she would go out and find trouble herself. Which wasn't necessarily a bad trait for a future Huntress.

[Help me!] [MEDIC!] [GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!] [Help me!] [ohmygodohmygodOHMYGODOHMYGOD!] [HELP ME!]

He shook his head and took a drink from his coffee mug. It was like he could still hear the voices. That was partly the reason he was standing in his office the night Ruby and Weiss brought that android to him.

Ozpin had been filling out paperwork in one of the administrative building's lounges alone. He didn't always like to work in his office high up in the tower; sometimes working away from all those spinning gears and being closer to the people he labored for was desirable or even convenient. He had heard a door open behind him but he paid it no mind. His title as the Headmaster of Beacon had an unfortunate side effect of people giving him a wide berth.

He looked up from his work and was about to reach for his ever present cup of coffee when he noticed whoever had entered the room had not avoided him.

Sitting across from him was another man. He wore an alabaster, two piece suit and pork pie hat. With a brown complexion and dark eyes, he stared intently at Ozpin.

Ozpin had to admit, at least to himself, he hadn't been caught off guard like this in a long time; the heightened perception granted by a mastery of Aura use made sneaking up on him a nearly impossible task. He hadn't even heard the chair move.

"...Yes?" He said, drawing out the 's' to convey his slight irritation.

"Greetings, Ozpin." The white suited man said. "I have a task for you, if you're willing to accept it."

An odd way to open the conversation. Why was this man requesting him for a mission personally? There were official channels to request the aid of a Huntsman after all. But, with the way he sneaked up on him this man must be a person of considerable skill in his own right. "I assume you have a reason for not filing an official request?"

"Correct. This is for your ears only."

Ozpin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "What do you need?"

"I can tell what your thinking. This won't be a frivolous request; you and you alone are suited for this task." The suit paused almost imperceptibly. "It is rare to find a righteous man in a position of power. This is good, for billions of lives hang in the balance."

Billions of lives? "Was that a hyperbole? There aren't that many people on Remnant today."

"I never said all the lives at stake were on Remnant."

Ozpin reached for his coffee unconsciously and took a drink. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is the task I have for you." The white suited man said. "I have prepared someone. It was inhumane but it had to be done. I have made arrangements for a human soul to occupy a device it was never meant to. This device will be plugged into an android rebuilt by one of your students."

"What I need you to do is to watch him. I cannot watch him personally; there are those who would call my existence abomination and actively seek my destruction. Please, allow him to stay here. I know there are certain groups that would kill to take possession of him and having the protection of some of the best this world has to offer would largely discourage any attempts. Not that I'm leaving him defenseless mind you, on the contrary due to his... restructuring, his Aura should be hyperactive and the vessels he will inhabit will ensure that he will be able to overcome any trouble that may find him."

Ozpin had questions. "Why is this person so important?" He voiced one of many.

"He... is an instrument of fate. A victim of happenstance and uniquely suited for the job I have for him." The suited man said, looking him in the eye.

"And what job would that be?"

The man grimaced "I'm afraid I cannot tell you that. I may trust you with this much, but not with that."

Ozpin nodded. "Compartmentalization is important."

"I'm glad you understand."

Ozpin took a sip from his mug with a thoughtful look. "So, allow me to clarify. You want me to watch over a person whose soul you claim to have taken and placed into a device which you predict a student of mine will acquire and use in a machine of their own construction. For how long did you need me to do this?" He finished dryly.

"I have made arrangements to remove him from your care when the time is right."

"I see." Ozpin sighed. "Okay, look. I think I've played along long enough. Do you have evidence that I should believe any of this as something other than delusions?"

The white suited man hesitated. "You... are a wise man, which is why I am trusting you with this. Unfortunately, the only thing I can offer you to prove my case is... unpleasant."

"I am an experienced Huntsman; I have seen many unpleasant things."

"Perhaps. But have you ever seen a world die?"

Ozpin narrowed his eyes at this. "What do you mean?"

"I speak of the future." The other man stated. "Give me your hand and I can show you."

He looked serious. Ozpin tried his best to read the man sitting in front of him and couldn't find any ill will. He was completely earnest in his request. 'Either this is an elaborate lie or this man is not right in the head.' Ozpin didn't feel this was a lie and this man seemed to have his mental faculties intact.

'It could be the truth.'

With that thought in mind Ozpin reached out and grasped the man's hand. If push came to shove, he was confident he could defend himself.

"Brace yourself." Was all the man said before Ozpin was bombarded by a cacophony of light, sound, and emotion.

Fire. Everything was on fire. Great cities, cities he had never seen before, were being laid to ruin. Panicked crowds of people ran through the streets; fleeing a teeming mass of black, white, and glowing red. They came from the sky like rain, skewering the people they fell upon. With beating wings they swarmed around massive, floating, monsters; like flying whales of gargantuan proportions that rained down fire upon the earth.

Earth.

They came upon the surface on skittering limbs in grotesque forms. Many he was familiar with and some he was not. They snapped and tore at the people. Cutting them to ribbons. But they were not unopposed.

Men in mottled uniforms, clutching their black rifles, fired upon the teeming horde from behind barricades, from inside buildings, from the rooftops. Large armored vehicles supported their stand; providing cover and adding to the fray with their massive guns.

A jet aircraft flew down the length of a street with its main cannon buzzing all the way.

He saw a man shouting into a radio set, until his head disappeared into a bloody mist. From out of the horde of Grimm creatures came bipedal figures. They were like a mockery of the human form; resembling a warrior clad in bone white armor plates with red stripes painted seemingly stylistically on their 'masks'. Most of them held some sort of long arm that spat bolts of light but many ran forward with ivory swords; slaughtering the defenders.

As the monsters routed the humans, suddenly the whole city was bathed in light then completely consumed by fire. A cloud like a mushroom the size of a mountain stood over the now destroyed city. In the distance he saw flashes of light and wherever they occurred another mushroom-shaped cloud rose in its place.

The scene cut and changed to something like a slide show in fast forward: burning flags, buildings crumbling, people being strangled, impaled, violated, by all manner of slithering beasts.

There were snips of sound and dialogue too: explosions, shouts for medical attention, the proverbial roar of gunfire, the literal roar of monsters, people arguing, people screaming. Everything swirled together into one incoherent sound that slowly faded out.

It was dark now. The sky blotted out by ash which fell down like snow and buried the fields of bloodied bones and burned out buildings. The wind howled and kicked up dust storms that tore down feeble, leafless trees.

"You can prevent this." As suddenly as the vision began so did it end. Ozpin found himself back in the lounge with the man in the white suit. He clutched his chest; his heart was beating like an insane drummer and he was nearly hyperventilating.

"Just... what... was that?" He said between ragged breaths.

"The end." The white suited man simply said. "That wasn't everything. A similar fate awaits Remnant but I did not show you that. I could tell what I showed was disturbing you."

Ozpin was going to deny it but he couldn't bring himself to do it for it was the truth. It was like he could feel their pain. It was muted but it built up; the cries for mother, the losses felt for those departed, the pain of saying goodbye one last time. The rage of battle. The hate for an enemy they didn't understand. The contempt they felt because they didn't want to.

And then there was the screaming. He did his best to shut that out of his mind.

"I need you to watch over him for awhile. He will be instrumental in easing the coming pain. Both here and there. Will you do it?"

Ozpin caught his breath and tried to force his heart to calm down. He was about to take a drink from his coffee but realized the caffeine in it would probably just exacerbate the problem. Instead, he rested his head on a shaking hand. "If I agree, what does it entail?"

"Nothing much on your part. Just a promise to keep him away from any unsavory groups. In fact, to simplify it further I would suggest leaving him in the custody of the student who is building his vessel. She's a simple, honest soul and it would help keep his existence away from prying eyes."

He understood the logic the other man was getting at. It would be unusual, but not entirely strange for a student to have an android as a 'weapon'. He could be cataloged as a piece of equipment to help build a cover.

"I must be going now, it is... not safe for me to remain in one place for long." The white suited man stood up from his chair. "If you have any questions, now would be the time."

"I haven't said I agreed yet." Ozpin quipped.

"Don't give me that. We both know after what you saw, your morals will not let you say no."

"Fine." He returned, disconcerted by the other man's correct assumption. "Do you have an estimated time your... VIP will arrive?"

"Within the next few days; you'll know when he's here. The student will most likely bring him to you for direction." The man began walking towards the door. "Let him learn how to fight alongside your students. I know he'll need it; it'll awaken a love for life he holds in his heart but hasn't yet embraced. With his now synthetic physical nature he should be a fast learner."

"One more thing to know: my subject, his name is Charles or Charlie Flater from the world called Earth. It... would be best if this encounter is never spoken of; to him or anyone else. This was for your ears only as I said." The man opened the door and was about to cross its threshold when Ozpin stopped him. "Wait." He said. "I never got your name."

The white suited and capped man turned back to him and gave him a pained smile. "I am only a small piece I... have no need for a name, Ozpin."

With that he left the room and shut the door behind him. Ozpin ran and reopened the door to follow him but the straight corridor ahead was empty. The man was gone without a trace.

For the next several nights Ozpin isolated himself in his office to mull over everything that happened that evening. Most importantly, he spent his time trying to forget the images that had been burned into his mind and attempting to bury the feelings they came with. Standing in his tower, he looked out onto the world around him to try and clear his mind. The things that man showed him were the nightmares of Huntsmen everywhere. A complete worst case scenario; the fall of civilization as they knew it.

More worrying to him however, was the idea that those images did not depict anywhere on Remnant but on another world. A world, if that remark about billions of lives was true, where the human race was more prolific by an order of magnitude. 'A similar fate awaits Remnant.' The man had said.

He would never let it happen. As long as he drew breath, Ozpin had sworn to uphold the peace and protect the people. It wasn't a massive jump in logic to extend that oath to another branch of mankind. If all he had to do was watch a robot to save both this world and another, so be it.

It was by this reasoning he remained unnervingly calm when Ruby and Weiss brought Charlie to him. It was by this reasoning he approved of Ruby taking responsibility of him. It was by this reasoning the lie he told Weiss rolled so easily off his tongue; there were most definitely more qualified institutions to study this. Atlas's rarely publicized, but influential in its circle, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory would be a prime candidate if a more thorough study was desired.

By every right he should have informed someone outside the school of the machine's true nature; he had several trusted confidants but many of them had overly ambitious aims. So, for now he decided to keep this quiet and only tell his closest staff members when the need arose. He knew that Charlie's existence would not stay secret forever though, but he knew better than to try and hide it. Let the information seep out naturally; he'd deal with any problems on a case by case basis.

For now he was content to sit and watch. Ozpin had watched the security footage from the Freshman Training Hall when Ruby had been there. He had noticed Charlie's Aura flare brightly to protect him and he had apparently used it to strengthen the sword he had used as evidenced by the one training unit he had run through. He had also reviewed the marksmanship scores he had achieved; they were excellent. Not up to the superhuman levels of precision he had seen veteran Huntsmen were capable of, but well beyond tolerable combat accuracy.

These abilities would serve him well. When he was notified that the freshman teams had set out into the forest that morning, the instructor on duty had informed him that one of the teams were bringing along a robot; citing it as being out of the ordinary. The instructor had allowed it though, as part of the reason they held these exercises at all was so students could experiment with their methods.

Ozpin paid close attention to the screen in front of him. He would see if Charlie had what it took.

* * *

><p>He has been pushing through underbrush for almost two hours now; unusually calm considering that the forest they were prowling through was apparently filled with monsters.<p>

That calm was broken when he was alerted by a rustling in the bushes in front of him. Charlie stopped walking and leveled the rifle Ruby has given him; the same one he had used on the range yesterday. Out of the bushes came a hulking mass of black and bony white. It resembled a bear; an Ursa, he recalled from the Grimmoire he had read earlier that morning. The Grimm creature stopped moving and gave him a long, hard look. It cocked its head to the side; seemingly confused. Charlie trained his rifle onto its head.

After a moment it made up it's mind and snarled; bunching up its hind legs in preparation for a leap.

Three rapid double-taps through its head put an end to that. It wasn't his first kill today and it certainly wouldn't be his last.

A second later, a red blur materialized to his right. He turned and faced the new contact but relaxed when he realized it was just Ruby; giant scythe at the ready. The girl looked at the slain Grimm, nodded and lowered her weapon.

"Good job." she said, approaching him in a leisurely walk.

"I try." Charlie said simply and continued the march forward.

They walked with each other for several minutes before Ruby peeled off and disappeared into the forest. Her and the others had spread out to cover more ground in the search for the box they were looking for. They hadn't gone far though as gunfire would erupt every so often nearby and he would occasionally catch a glimpse of white to his left, of red in front of him, and of yellow to his right.

He wondered why they chose to wear such bright colors. Of course, he already knew the answer. According to the books, Remnant's Great War had a profound effect on the culture of this world. One of the most visible was the high value placed on self-expression. Art and individuality were championed by the Huntsmen and Huntresses and it showed in their style of clothing; Weiss had gone into the forest wearing a dress. A DRESS! Ruby as well! The same clothes they were wearing when he met them in fact. When he questioned this they had insisted they were 'combat skirts'. Whatever.

He continued walking along, sweeping his gun around in regular intervals. It was quiet again and his mind wandered back to the Grimm he had just killed and the few others he had run into today. The first one he had laid eyes upon was something referred to as a Beowolf. A tall but hunched over, muscular, bipedal, wolf-like creature with bony protrusions covering its arms and its face armored in what could be called a bone 'mask'. When he gazed upon it, the monster had stared right back at him in what looked like curiosity. However, when Charlie raised his weapon in its direction it grew agitated and started sprinting towards him. He had no explanation, but when he looked upon the creature he felt uneasy; like it was emanating a sickening sense of emptiness.

He dropped it in a singe, contemptuous head shot. A creature like this deserved nothing better.

Thinking on that feeling, Charlie unconsciously patted the sword sheathed at his hip. Like the rifle, it was the same one he had used in the training hall the previous day. Before they had set out that morning, Ruby had retrieved the rifle, the sword, a vest covered in pockets and magazine pouches, and a black backpack with the Beacon logo emblazoned on it for him to use on this excursion. She had mentioned this was all temporary and that they would have to arrange something more permanent later.

A few minutes of walking forward later, he came upon a sandy clearing that had a few small boulders scattered around it. Looking to his left he saw Weiss enter the clearing; to his right Blake and Yang appeared from the undergrowth. 'At least they're not wearing skirts.' Charlie thought snidely to himself. Indeed, Blake and Yang's outfits were comparatively more practical if a bit showy. Blake wore a black, coat-tailed vest with a white, sleeveless short shirt underneath. She had a single, detached black sleeve on her left arm and black ribbons wrapped around both of her forearms. White shorts and black leggings that faded to purple near her black, low-heeled boots covered her legs. She still had her ever present black bow on her head and a thin black scarf wrapped around her neck.

Yang, who strolled casually behind Blake and not looking at all like she was walking through a dark forest filled with monster, had decided to face the day wearing a brown vest with puffy cap sleeves, a yellow, low-cut, crop top, a brown leather belt with a pouch and strips of the material hanging fashionably behind her and at her hips. On her wrists were a pair of golden bracelets and over her black short shorts and under the belt was an asymmetric, white, underskirt. 'Well, not a real skirt.' Covering her feet were a pair of brown, leather, knee-high boots and orange socks; one stretched over her left knee and the other folded up. A gray bandanna was tied around her left leg just under the knee and she had an orange scarf wrapped around her neck.

Ruby was already there in the clearing sitting on one of the rocks. The four of them converged on the red cloaked girl. "Why have we stopped?" he asked her.

"I was waiting for you guys. I'm hungry."

"Oh. Did you pack a lunch?"

"Yep. Why did you think I handed you that backpack?"

"Huh?" Charlie rested his rifle against a nearby boulder and unshouldered the backpack. He hadn't even checked it's contents when Ruby had given it to him now that he thought about it. Unzipping it, he found four brown bags. "Sack lunches?"

"Yeah. You didn't think we'd go out here with nothing, did you?"

Now that she mentioned it, he hadn't seen any of the girls eat today. Except Yang who had been gnawing on a granola bar before they entered the forest. "No. Can't fight on an empty stomach after all." He said and distributed the bags to the four young women.

"Let's see here... water, apple and..." Ruby said while rummaging through her bag. "Aha! Ham and cheese sandwich! What'd you get Yang?"

"Hmm? Oh, Ham and cheese. Got a banana though. What about you Blake?"

"Chicken sandwich and an apple. Weiss?"

Weiss was carefully unfolding the foil wrapping on her lunch. "I got an orange and... tuna. I got a tuna sandwich. " She sighed.

"Trade you." Blake offered

"Deal." Weiss did not hesitate for a second and tossed her bag to Blake who nimbly caught the flying object and tossed her's to Weiss who likewise caught it.

Charlie stood there awkwardly for a moment before picking his weapon back up and leaning against a boulder. "When did you find the time for this?" He asked.

"We didn't. The cafeteria preps lunches for students going into the forest."

"Oh. That makes sense." He relented and stared out into the forest. He couldn't exactly eat with them so he occupied himself by keeping watch. Listening carefully, Charlie could here faint cracks and pops in the distance; likely the other students. Other than that distant sound of battle, it was a comfortable silence in the sandy clearing. "So, how goes it?" He never liked silence in groups of people.

"Eh, I've been better." Yang said before scarfing down the remains of her sandwich and peeling the banana. "Haven't run into anything too terrible yet."

"Mmmm, yeah. You know, for a forest full of monsters we've run into far fewer than I thought we would've."

"Only because they're spreading out to chase after everyone. We'll run into a big group sooner or later."

"I guess. That'll be a real test on my mettle though. Hopefully we'll be fine."

Yang stopped mid-bite and looked at Charlie with a wry grin. "Heh, test your metal."

He paused and after it sunk in he facepalmed. "Har, har. Very funny." Charlie deadpanned.

"You could say it was very punny!" Yang's grin only grew larger until a thrown apple hit her on the head. "Hey!"

"Boo!" Ruby hollered and looked at Charlie with pleading eyes. "Please, just quit while your ahead!" Yang dusted sand off the apple and winged it back at Ruby who caught it with her gut. "OOF!"

"HA HA!" Yang hooted and returned to eating her banana. Ruby looked as if she were about to retaliate when Weiss intervened. "Are you seriously going to start out here?" Ruby's face expression changed as her mind cycled through ready retorts before she simply sighed and picked up her apple. She poured a measure of water from her bottle onto the fruit and polished it's skin with her cloak, muttering all the way.

Charlie watched the back and forth with amusement. "Are they always like this?" He directed to Blake who merely nodded. He could relate somewhat; he and his sister used to have a close relationship with all the sibling rivalry and love that came with it. He briefly wondered how she was doing.

'No, best not to dwell on that.' Instead, he looked between Ruby and Yang. Ruby had said they were sisters but he could hardly see a resemblance. Ruby, with her short, red-tinted, black hair and silver eyes and Yang, with her long, messy, blonde hair and- 'What color are her eyes?' He focused on the girl's face and the image magnified. 'Ah. Lilac. They don't look related. Well, I mean there's kind of a likeness in the face but other than that- HOLY CRAP I CAN ZOOM!?' Indeed, in the top left of his vision a '4x' had appeared. 'Whoa.' He tried focusing on a bush at a distant end of the clearing and the number increased to '16x'. He tried looking up at a faraway cloud but the magnification did not seem to go further than that.

"RUBY!" He turned to the girl who looked up from nibbling on her apple. "What is it?"

"I can zoom!"

"Huh?" She said with a quirked eyebrow.

"My vision can magnify." He clarified.

"Oh." She said then realized "Oh! That's pretty cool!"

"How'd you find out you can do that?" He turned to face Blake, whose amber eye filled his view.

"I was trying to find out what color Yang's eyes are." He answered truthfully.

"Why?" Yang questioned him.

"I was trying to figure out how related you and Ruby look. You're sisters right? 'Cause, you hardly look it."

"Half-sisters. I am a Xiao Long, after all. I still love my baby sister though!" She declared. Ruby huffed and continued working on her apple.

"Oh, only half. That would explain a lot. Wait, your name is Yang Xiao Long?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Nothing. It just sounds a little strange is all." It sounded Chinese. Which was strange considering he was on another planet. But then again why was everyone speaking English? He would need to look into this later because this sounded like a serious etymological problem.

Thankfully, Yang simply shrugged it off and took a drink from her water bottle. "Meh, not the first time I've heard that."

Charlie turned back to looking back out into the forest. 'Now, how do I zoom out?'. It didn't take long for him to figure that out. All he had to do was will it back to normal. Imagining himself pinching a screen together like how you would zoom out on a touch screen device seemed to help. After returning his sight to normal, he scanned the tree line in an effort to remain busy. He idly rubbed the receiver of his weapon with his fingertips, brushing over a strange texture. He turned the rifle over to inspect it and found some engraved text which read: SCHNEE GUN WORKS TYPE 67 CALIBER .264 NO. B344.1119 MADE IN ATLAS.

There was that name again. Schnee. He recalled seeing that name in a textbook on Dust he had perused last night too: The Schnee Dust Company. 'Schnee Dust, Schnee Gun...'

'Weiss Schnee.'

That couldn't be a coincidence. He had to ask.

"Hey Weiss."

"Yes?" The girl responded.

"My gun was made by Schnee Gun Works, that Dust textbook I read mentioned a company called the Schnee Dust Company. Any relation?"

The white haired girl breathed out a long, drawn out sigh but it was Blake who answered the question. "Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"There's a reason I said Weiss'd be the best person to explain Dust." Yang called out. "Ice Queen is old money." This earned a disgruntled "Hey!" from Weiss.

"An Heiress huh? Cool. I've never met an aristocrat before." Charlie said.

"Thank you, I suppose." She affirmed, her chest slightly puffing up in pride.

"What's an aristocrat?" Ruby whispered to Blake who replied "An archaic term for nobleman." "Ooooh" The red cloaked girl nodded in understanding.

"Don't think this changes anything though. I'm still treating you like a normal person."

Weiss deflated. "Of course." She bit off dryly. "I'd rather be judged by my personal achievements than by my name anyway."

"Woohoo! Another one on the peasant's team!" Yang cheered sarcastically. They all had a laugh at Weiss's expense, who held her dignity marvelously well; she simply stuck her nose up and took a bite of her sandwich.

Blake suddenly stopped laughing and got serious. "We've got company." She reached over her shoulder and pulled a terrifically rectangular sword from its place on her back; he spotted a trigger guard built into the hilt. Everyone else sobered up and turned to the direction Blake was facing.

A lone Beowolf had meandered into their sandy clearing. Words did not need to be said. Where there is one Beowolf, there are more; the Grimmoire made this clear. This one probably belonged to the same pack as the other he had encountered today. A few more appeared. At first a mere smattering. Then a half-dozen. A baker's dozen. A torrent of shadows flowing out of the dark forest.

"I count twenty-seven." He announced levelly.

"Easy." Yang cracked her knuckles with a cocky grin. Her bracelets expanded over her forearms, clicking and unfolding into a pair of gauntlets. She pumped her fists with an audible, metallic racking sound. Ah. They were guns too.

Ruby ran forward, deploying her scythe and anchoring the blade into the ground; cycling the bolt and chambering a round. With barely a second's hesitation she fired; a Beowolf down range being literally cut in half. Weiss stepped up taking her blade, a rapier with an interesting looking revolver mechanism wherein each chamber was a different color was forged into the guard, in hand. She flourished the sword gracefully in a Grimm's direction, spinning the cylinder until the red chamber aligned with the spine of the blade. A whip of fire flicked off the weapon, zooming forward until it struck its target. The Beowolf it struck was immolated on impact; howling in agony as it was burned alive.

Blake walked purposefully into position, casually pulling apart her weapon revealing the large rectangular piece to be an edged scabbard concealing a sword whose overall style reminded him of a katana. She manipulated the hilt in some way, causing the blade to bend at a ninety-degree angle at its base and folding up, showing the weapon's additional function: a handgun. It was blocky, but relatively compact; almost Glock-like really. She squeezed the trigger rapidly, peppering her target in a semi-automatic barrage. Yang moved into place on the impromptu firing line and brought her arms up like a boxer. She seemingly threw a punch into empty air but a flare-like projectile burned out of the front of her gauntlet; accelerating and exploding on contact, knocking over an unlucky Beowolf.

Charlie himself leapt onto a nearby boulder and sighted the nearest monster, depressing the trigger for a decuple of shots that rendered its neck on up into so much shattered bone and mush.

The Beowolves seemed to finally get their act together and advanced upon the five of them. A number of them moved around in an attempt to encircle them, but the majority stayed together in a pack and charged straight ahead. Weiss spun the cylinder of her rapier onto a new setting and tucked the weapon close to her body. She gestured with her right hand and a white, spinning, circular symbol stylized like a snowflake appeared under her feet. She tensed her legs and suddenly took off like a bolt of white lightning aimed for the center of the incoming pack. The white streak bowled through the slavering mob, mounds of ice forming at her flanks as she passed; freezing a few 'wolves in place. Charlie took the time to finish the frozen Grimm that had their heads still facing his direction, cracking through their skull plates with efficiently aimed fire.

The mass that remained mostly unharmed turned around to bunch up on Weiss, that is until Ruby arrived. The red-cloaked girl pulled her scythe out of the ground and turned it around. With a running start she fired her massive weapon and disappeared into a red blur and leaving rose petals in her wake. In the blink of an eye (a term that did not apply to him anymore, ironically enough) Ruby closed the distance and cut down four Beowolves like wheat in a harvest, stopping on a fifth with both boots firmly planted in its face. Upon landing, she twirled her scythe around and bisected a sixth before finally dropping the tip of her scythe's blade into the chest of the fifth Beowolf which let out a gurgled howl before dying.

On the flanks, Blake and Yang had split off to eliminate the threat. To Charlie's right Yang could be seen throwing a flurry of punches into the abdomen of an unfortunate Grimm; each punch accompanied by a flash of light and a crackle. The girl threw an uppercut with her left fist and kicked the creature in the side of the knee before smashing its face in with a powerful right hook. She spun on her heel and without losing momentum delivered a punch into the side of an approaching Beowolf's face.

On the side opposite of Yang's scrap, Blake clashed with a small pack of 'wolves. Using her scabbard as a weapon, she fought with a flowing, dual-wielding style; using the scabbard to block and chop and seamlessly changing her sword to a gun and back again. The black-haired girl delivered a thrust into the abdomen of a Grimm, leaving her vulnerable to a Beowolf that was creeping up behind her. Charlie leveled his rifle at the creature but it was too late. The Grimm was upon her.

In horror he watched the monster swipe viciously at her; it's claws tearing into the girl, her body dissolving into a shadowy mist.

What?

Striking from above, Blake came down from above the offending Beowolf. She hooked her left arm around its neck and pressed her weapon in pistol form against the back of its head and fired. Repeatedly. The creature forcefully emptied its brain-case through a new set of holes in its face. While Blake was brutalizing her target, Charlie covered her with precise rifle-fire; dropping a Beowolf with a burst in its upper chest and neck. He switched targets and squeezed off a burst that brought another creature to its knees before his rifle clicked empty. He thumbed the magazine release, causing the mag to fall from its place and fishing a spare one from a vest pocket. For the few seconds he was reloading, Blake wheeled around and smoothly decapitated the wounded Beowolf. She glanced in Charlie's direction, noticing his weapon pointed at the now dead Grimm, and nodded in appreciation. The girl sprinted off to aid Yang in mopping up the remaining Grimm on her end of the clearing.

Turning back to Ruby and Weiss, he saw the white-clad girl jam her rapier into the chest of a Beowolf while Ruby smashed the blunt end of her scythe into another. The red-cloaked girl spun her weapon backward and fired, using the recoil of the gun built into it to aid her forward motion and plunging the spear-pointed end of the haft into the Beowolf's abdomen. She flew forward, Grimm still impaled on her scythe, and abruptly arrested her velocity by ramming into a tree.

Meanwhile, Yang was flying around like an action hero; pulverizing bony plate and dark flesh alike in a whirlwind of augmented hand to hand combat. Blake jumped in to assist the blonde, stopping just short of the brawl and tossing her folded sword-gun into the mix. She held onto it by a length of cable or ribbon, apparently the same ribbon she had wrapped around her arms. The black-haired girl gave the airborne weapon a little tug, triggering its firearm component and changing its direction midair. She expertly maneuvered it so that the folded blade slashed at Beowolves it passed until it sunk into the back of another's neck. As the Grimm were suitably distracted, Yang annihilated them; alternating between punching and firing her gauntlets at range. At some point her right weapon apparently ran out of ammunition so while still in the motion of delivering a punch, she pulled a belt of red shells out of the pouch on her hip and sent them into the air. In an incredible display of spatial awareness, she gut punched the creature in front of her and raised her right hand and caught the belt of ammunition directly on her empty gauntlet. The ammo belt wrapped around her wrist and a golden plate retracted into place. The girl pumped her arm, feeding her weapon with a fresh charge and throwing an explosive throat punch.

This left a single Beowolf between Yang and Blake. Before either of them could move to destroy the creature, Charlie fired off a prolonged burst and it fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Both girls looked at him on his perch; Yang with a dissatisfied expression which she quickly shrugged off and Blake with a simple nod of acknowledgement.

Charlie leapt off his position and walked towards Ruby and Weiss's location; Blake and Yang doing the same. Ruby had at some point in the last minute dislodged her scythe from the remains of the Beowolf she had took off with. She was standing, scythe compacted into its gun form and buttstock extended, in front of the lone Beowolf that had survived up to this point encased in a sheet of ice. It snapped madly at the girl with its jaws. Ruby for her part looked mostly serene as she emotionlessly leveled her gun at the thing and worked the bolt. The girl blinked once before squeezing the trigger and blowing the creature's head off; splintering the ice around it and showering the area with fragments.

"That was pretty hardcore, Ruby." Charlie said as he stopped just behind the girl. The red and black dressed girl merely nodded and compressed her weapon further and returned it to its carrying straps on her lower back. "Yeah, I guess so." She mumbled and trudged back to their temporary resting place. She picked up her water bottle from where she left it and took a sip. "I didn't even finish eating" Ruby murmured. "We should get moving."

The other three girls complied, securing whatever leftover food they may have had back into the brown bags. Charlie picked up the backpack from where he set it down and walked around collecting the bags. Re-shouldering the backpack and picking up his dropped magazine he gave his rifle a once-over before nodding in satisfaction and gesturing his readiness to the group.

"Alright, let's go find this box."

* * *

><p>Slumber.<p>

It had chosen this forest as a resting place. It was a quiet spot surrounded by the soulless. Occasionally, They would draw close to its resting place; they who bore their souls as a shield. When it had first witnessed this peculiar phenomenon, it had been intrigued. They were fleshlings; beings contained in cages of dirt and meat. But they had tapped into their immortal souls, using its power to manipulate the material plane. Most prominently as a shield and it had learned later, as a weapon.

It had been forced onto this world. It had been thrown out and banished into the void. That cold, empty yet suffocating nothingness was to be Its tomb for all eternity. But, there was a light of hope. It had drifted to a fracture; a gateway back onto the material plane. There was no way to know for sure where It would find itself if it crossed through but It had to try. It was better to have something than absolutely nothing.

After crossing through, It had found itself on a world very similar to the one it had been thrown off of. A lush, watery, life-bearing world full of great expanses of flora. There were fauna too. Animals of nearly the exact types and species as the other world. And, most interestingly, there were Humans. This was an unexpected surprise. They were far fewer in number than in the other world; their populations preyed upon by creatures of darkness. It had found these monsters to be fascinating. They were empty vessels with an irrational obsession with the consumption of humans.

It had observed their behavior for decades. These creatures seemed drawn to the light of human souls. They envied that light for they were born without it. They desired to have it for their own, but they couldn't. No matter how many humans one of these creatures consumed it made no difference; they would never have their own light inside them, leaving them trapped in an endless cycle of gluttony and death. It was pitiful, really.

Fortunately for It, it could benefit from these imperfect creature's behavior. Unlike them, It could consume souls. Not digest them and waste them, but it was more akin to attaching them to itself; adding to Its power like a reverse parasite. When It had been banished from that other world, all the souls it had previously consumed had been freed. Therefore, It greatly desired to regain its old power. These empty creatures could be to It's advantage.

Because they were devoid of light, they were very easy for It to enthrall. It forced itself upon countless numbers of them, forming a great host. Each of their bodies acting as a small piece of a massive, aggregated vessel. All under Its command.

It had directed its new bodies at the outskirts of human civilization. With Its will behind them, when they slaughtered a human their soul became a part of It. It grew fat with the energy provided by Its unwilling prey. It could hear their confused thoughts; questioning what had happened to themselves. The ones that understood their situation screamed in terror and madness; wailed in hopelessness.

Good. Their emotion only fueled Its power further.

It had gone on like this for over a year. Not very long on anyone's scale of time but for It, it was happy. It had thought that maybe, just maybe, it could build up enough energy to open a new rift so more of Its kind could join It on this world. But to do that it would need more power. The few thousand souls It had collected from consuming just as many humans in its time on this world wouldn't due. It would need millions.

But all good things must come to an end. Eventually, the humans resolved to end Its feasting. They gathered together an army and campaigned to exterminate Its vessels. At first, It wasn't worried; no matter how many of Its vessels they killed, it could always find more to replace them and humans It killed with its vessels would only contribute to Its own power. However, some of the humans in this conflict were... different.

Somehow, these beings forged of the dust of the earth had harnessed the power of their souls. With the energy within them empowering their weapons, every time they struck down one of Its thralls it was agony. Moreover, they drained itself of power; their weapons having the ability to free the souls trapped within It. With every vessel destroyed, Its power waned until eventually It had almost nothing. In an effort to preserve itself, It had relinquished its control over the empty creatures and secluded itself in a forest to rest and recuperate.

Years passed. Decades turned to centuries as It desperately clung onto what little power it had left; rarely adding to its pool when an unsuspecting victim entered Its domain. But in relatively recent times, It couldn't afford to do this anymore. The humans had built an institution nearby; the light and power of harnessed souls flared brightly from it. With souls shining brightly, these different humans would foray into the forest and slaughter the empty beasts that dwelled there. It knew that if it tried to add these human's souls to its own, the endeavor would be painful. And even if it did succeed, more would come and It couldn't expect to fight and win such an encounter and it didn't have the energy to flee very far. Instead, it bided its time. Sleeping the time away and wishing for a better day.

Today was just another day for It. On the edges of Its senses, it detected bright souls entering the forest for the routine culling of the empty creatures. It was going to ignore them until one in particular caught its attention. This one... was different. It was different among these different humans. An outsider. It couldn't know for sure why this was; in Its current form it only had a limited set of senses. Specifically, it could only see their souls.

They moved in a group of five; four of them with the distinctive signature of femininity and the one It was so interested in was masculine. It could see the color their souls shined in: rosy red, icy white, shadowy violet, and a burning yellow. The one It was interested in shone with an elemental green. It could see their dispositions: red was unmarred and still innocent. She would make a scrumptious little treat if It could get a hold of her. White had veins of pride running through her and a large dose of self-loathing. Probably one of those "duty and honor" types; efficient and very satisfying to consume. The shadowed violet had... something to prove. A troubled heart, maybe holding onto a grievance. Bitter, but tasteful.

Yellow was radiating light like a fire. A heart of passion then; she wouldn't go down easy but if It did manage to do it her soul would be very much worth it. But the green one. He was strange; his soul seemed to be shining from a single compact, highly dense point. His disposition was inquisitive; calm at the moment but showed the clear fractures of being traumatized. Probably very recently too.

It needed to investigate this. It had never seen a soul structured quite like this before and the sense of foreignness intrigued it. Marshalling its will, It forced itself upon an empty creature near the small group, a tiny avian, and directed it towards the quintet.

There was one sure way for It to get answers quickly. The method would probably _hurt_ but It was very, very curious.

Seeing through the bird's eyes, It flew its newly commandeered body directly at the curiously dense soul. It sent the avian creature upwards over the treetops then back down in a steep dive. The vaguely raven-like creature fell out of the sky like a malicious thunderbolt on an ineludible trajectory. Its object of curiosity had no chance of evading or striking it down before It learned what it wanted to know.

It was just a few seconds of flight away now and it gazed upon the curiosity's physical form; seeing that his body did not appear human. Which was strange because his soul most definitely was, albeit a little unusual. No matter, this only further piqued Its curiosity.

Moment of impact. Its vessel collided with the subject and made contact before rapidly breaking away and flying out of there. Supersonic chunks of matter lanced out from the group at Its possession and It quickly broke links from the empty creature which, not a second later, had its wings clipped by the projectiles.

It ignored the outbursts of energy springing from the five, now alerted, beings. Instead, It weighed in its newly gained knowledge. And what it discovered was both intriguing and disturbing.

When a soul is first poured out onto the material world, the particular area of its birth will imprint upon it a unique signature. Every world had subtle differences in the impressions they left on their inhabitants and if a being knew what it was looking for, it could determine the origin of an individual. Fortunately for It, it knew exactly what it was looking for and that's what made this intriguing.

The impression left on this soul was the same as the humans on the world It had lived in before. The world had a name, what was it? It searched some of its oldest memories for that bit of information.

Ah, yes. Terra. The particular memory that piece of knowledge came from was unpleasant; a word uttered by its banisher. But that didn't matter. There was a Terran from Terra here on this world the natives called Remnant. While this information alone did not prove there was a way between the two worlds now, the disturbing part of its new knowledge heavily implied it.

This soul had been... altered. It was still distinctly human but there was something more to it. Whatever it was, it was powerful.

Sheer, absolute, brilliant, power. The kind that one wouldn't find in a human but only in some of the oldest entities in all of existence, and it knew painfully well that those same entities could bestow a fraction of their power onto a "mortal". This was never a whimsical gift either; it was an investment. By this logic, It could assume whatever had instilled power into this human would still be nearby watching its subject or the unknown entity had retired back on to another plane. And if it had phased out of this world, it would only be logical for it to keep an easy way back. A stable rift perhaps?

It didn't know. But It was eager to find out. It would be watching this strange human very closely for the near future.

"Maybe better days have finally come..."

* * *

><p>Charlie lowered his rifle and exchanged looks with everyone around him. "What the heck was that about?"<p>

"I dunno. Maybe it just really didn't like you." Yang remarked offhandedly.

"Maybe." Charlie mumbled. "Anyone know who landed the hit?"

"I know I missed." Ruby answered. "So did Weiss." The white haired girl 'humphed' and muttered something about 'low speed projectiles'. "Its a toss up between you and Blake I think."

"It doesn't really matter. It was just one small Nevermore." Blake said while sheathing her weapons. "Let's keep moving; we can't be far now."

The group fanned out and marched on. The forest was once again quiet; in the next hour Charlie only heard the loud crack characteristic of Ruby's scythe go off twice and a smattering of booms, bangs, and hisses coming from the directions of Yang, Blake, and Weiss respectively. The fact he hadn't run into anything yet was both relieving and worrying. Relieving because Charlie was free of the unease he felt whenever he faced a Grimm and worrying because... well, he had a pessimistic streak; he had always told himself to never expect anything good to happen.

As if to prove him right, the biggest and most well armored Beowolf he had seen so far emerged from behind a thicket of bushes. Things happened quickly. The Grimm gave him one good look before becoming visibly agitated and charging. Charlie immediately leveled his rifle at the charging beast and squeezed the trigger; dumping the magazine in a spray of automatic gunfire. The creature was having none of that though; it absorbed the shots like a sponge and a few of them actually bounced off its bone mask. When the distance between the two of them couldn't be more than seven yards, Charlie dropped his rifle, drew his sword, and at the last possible second sidestepped out of the way. The beast quickly spun around and Charlie planted his blade in the thing's abdomen.

This only seemed to piss it off.

The Beowolf raised both of its arms (forepaws?) and brought them down in a rapid series of strikes. Charlie still held on to his sword though and tried to pull it out. The Grimm, as if sensing him trying to escape with his weapon, opened its jaws impossibly wide and clamped down on his head. With static flickering at the edge of his vision, Charlie attempted to pull himself away but the creature's grip held firm. So, he used the first technique that came to mind. An age old method that he was sure had solved many problems throughout history.

He began punching it in the face.

Well, he hoped it was its face. He was really just hammering down on the thing's head with closed fists.

The hammer strikes appeared to be working; he could feel the pressure on his head loosening enough so he could pull his head out of the maw of the monster. But the Beowolf still stubbornly held onto him; the wolf-creature holding him, ironically, in a crushing under-arm bear hug. As the creature reared its head back to try and once again bite his head off, Charlie delivered several open-handed chops to the side of the Beowolf's neck; punctuating each with words expressing his irritation.

"Get. The. Frak. OFF. ME!"

On the latest strike, Charlie was surprised to find that his hand met far too little resistance against the Grimm's thick hide. In fact, it didn't stop at all. He watched in horrid fascination as his hand passed through the Beowolf's neck, down through the shoulder, and out under the arm; the limb sheathed in a green nimbus of light and separating the Grimm's head, shoulder, and right arm away from its body.

The dismembered creature's body slumped to the forest floor in two pieces. Charlie looked over the slain beast and back to his hand in wonder. "Wow." He quietly said aloud. That was the power of Aura; a shield and a sword. Though, he could still use some practice on the shield part he thought as he rubbed the rough scratches the Beowolf's fangs left on the top of his head.

The mechanical man reached down and pulled his discarded sword out of the Grimm's already fading body. 'A strange phenomena.' He mused as he scooped his firearm off the ground. He had read it about it the night before: one of the things that made the Grimm so mysterious was that studying them was almost impossible because upon death the carcass would rapidly fade away; the rate of decay directly proportional to the extent of the damage and size of the corpse.

Charlie quickly inspected his loaned rifle for damage and swapped out the empty magazine. An enemy this branch of humanity has been fighting for centuries and they still knew very little of their nemesis. They knew much of their behavior and volumes can and have been written on combat, quarantine, and extermination of the beasts. But little could be said about their physical makeup, even less on their reproduction, and absolutely no solid facts could be found about their origin. Living, breathing, malicious organisms that seemed to be the very antithesis to human civilization.

Charlie tried to clear his mind by pulling and releasing the bolt handle of the rifle. Fear of the unknown was a terrible thing and fear was something he had noticed he was not feeling a lot of since arriving on Remnant. There was no rush in the face of danger, no feeling of trepidation in the strange circumstances he had been dumped in. Perhaps it was another side effect of his metal body; his now synthetic nature dulling or maybe not even having a natural body's fight-or-flight response. On this line of thought, frankly he was surprised he still had any emotion left at all.

"Oy vey, a psychologist would have a field day with me." He muttered to himself has he jogged on, hoping to catch up with the others.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**So, funny thing. This chapter was basically finished two weeks ago and I only started editing it two days ago. I would have finished a lot sooner but... Monty, you know? A damn shame is what it is. It's the first time I've ever shed tears over the passing of a stranger and that surprised me. I guess it's because I have some good memories about the days I discovered his work. I suppose it hurt me to find out the man responsible for brightening those days is no longer with us. ****But, I digress. I'm sure the fandom has heard enough about this.**

**I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, especially the beginning but hopefully that segment got the message across. Any suggestions on how to make it more convincing or streamlined would be much appreciated. Shout out to the guest that pointed out my "its and it's" errors. I'll be more careful.**

**Trivia: I chose the name "Schnee Gun Works" as a reference to the company Krupp. Mostly because I saw a picture on Wikipedia of the Krupp Gun Works and I thought it sounded cool. Then I realized Krupp was infamous for its use of forced labor during the Second World War, kind of like the Schnee Dust Company's own questionable labor practices... *sigh* I spent far too long than I'm proud of finding meaning in the serial number I made up for the gun.**

**On another note, I've started referring to the theoretical Chancellor/Chairman/President/Prime Minister of Atlas in my head as "The Kaiser". I find it amusing.**


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